Four Maternal Deaths in Four Weeks as COVID Cases Peak
A young mother-to-be lost her battle with COVID-19 over the weekend. It is the fourth maternal death to be confirmed in the country within the past four weeks. Thirty-one-year-old Nicole Baptist was hospitalized with a severe case of the virus and was receiving medical attention when she passed away. Her death is particularly tragic because she was several months pregnant. Despite all efforts to save her, Baptist and her unborn child would not survive the ordeal. The spike in the mortality rate involving the pregnant population is particularly alarming says Doctor Andre Sosa.
Andre Sosa
Dr. Andre Sosa, Chair, K.H.M.H.A.
“Maternal deaths is one of those markers of the development of a country. How well you take care of your pregnant women and children. Those are very important indices for development and Belize has traditionally done quite well with regards to those indices. COVID has come and wrecked that. We have had, in the last four weeks, four maternal deaths due to COVID. I think, in total, there are five maternal deaths that we can report, but four related specifically to COVID. There are other issues in the southern part of the country with regards to maternal care but I won’t get into that. That is for the Ministry of Health to finalize their investigations. But indeed, this trend of maternal deaths is very alarming to us. I’m told by our OBYNs at the K.H.M.H. that pregnant women with COVID are primarily coming in with dehydration, diarrhea and vomiting and for the most part we are able to treat those patients and send them home. Naturally if they come in with respiratory symptoms they will more often than not end up hospitalized, but the big problem, the big issue arises when these women require surgery. C-Sections, for example, they don’t do so well. So they are in conversation with the Maternal and Childcare Unit at the Ministry of Health and Wellness to try to chart a way forward because something definitely has to be done to protect the pregnant population.”
Baptist was well-known from her work at Paulino’s Funeral Home.
