Lack of access to health care facilities due to prolonged curfew hours and the general strike has heightened the newborn deaths and maternal mortality rate in Nepali capital, Kathmandu Valley.

The out patient department (OPD) of most of the hospitals in Kathmandu, have not been able to function properly due to erratic curfew hours, lack of manpower and low turn out of patients since the general strike called by the seven political party alliance on April 6.

According to Indra Rajya Laxmi Maternity Hospital in Kathmandu, the only maternity hospital in the country, the OPD remained closed on Friday and Sunday.

The number of visitors to the OPD has spiraled down almost close to a nil due to low vehicular movement even during non- curfew hours and unpredictability of curfew announcement.

On a normal day, an average of 400 patients visit the OPD of the hospital, out of which over 200 pregnant women need immediate attention, president of the Nepal Medical Association Sudha Sharma told reporters on Monday.

She said that out of the 200 pregnant women who need immediate attention, 30 percent are at high risk and need to be monitored and examined more frequently than others.

According to Sharam, emergency cases too have gone down, with only 41 cases admitted on last Wednesday when there was a 25-hour curfew.

She said that complications must have been happening at homes, even those who come to the emergency ward are mostly in the last stage.

"We have attended many cases in which deliveries were carried out at home but the patients were brought to the hospital with retained placenta.

"In such cases, the risk factor depends on the amount of bleeding the women had suffered," Sharma said.

Only 18 percent of the total deliveries are attended by skilled health workers in Nepal.

Nepal has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world with 539 deaths per 100,000 live births.

Source: Xinhua