Health stakeholders in the Tema Metropolis are urging the Tema General Hospital (TGH) to disaggregate its maternal mortality data to clearly distinguish between deaths recorded within the facility and those involving patients referred from other health centres.
The call was made during the Tema Metropolitan Health Directorate’s 2025 Performance Review, where participants raised concerns that combining all maternal deaths—particularly late referrals—may distort the hospital’s performance picture and suggest a higher institutional mortality burden than is accurate.
The discussion followed the presentation of TGH’s institutional maternal mortality ratio of 208.88 per 100,000 live births for 2025, which remains above the facility’s target of 125 per 100,000 live births.
Hospital data showed a fluctuating trend over the past three years, rising from 118.06 in 2023 to 231.21 in 2024, before dropping slightly to 208.88 in 2025.
A breakdown of the eight maternal deaths recorded in 2025 indicated that only two occurred among patients managed directly by TGH, while the remaining cases were referrals from facilities including Dangme Community Hospital, Community 22 Polyclinic, New Crystal Hospital, Manhean Polyclinic, Zenu Polyclinic, and St Florence Clinic.
Medical records attributed the deaths to conditions such as pulmonary thromboembolism, eclampsia, obstetric haemorrhage leading to cardiac arrest, multiple organ failure, HELLP syndrome, acute kidney injury, and complications linked to sickle cell disease.
The review also highlighted systemic challenges affecting outcomes, including limited intensive care capacity, shortages of skilled health professionals, equipment failures, delays in clinical interventions, and late referrals from lower-level facilities. Cultural practices and poor adherence to treatment protocols were also cited as contributing factors.
In response, hospital management outlined ongoing interventions such as the establishment of a High Dependency Unit (HDU), continuous staff training, and intensified community education to improve maternal health outcomes.
The facility has set a target of reducing maternal mortality to 180 per 100,000 live births by the end of 2025 through strengthened clinical care and improved health system coordination.
