293 pregnant women assisted in Atiwa

A total of 293 pregnant women in the Atiwa District of the Eastern Region have been offered free ultrasound scan services by the Divine Mother and Child (DMAC) Foundation, a Koforidua-based non-governmental organisation that focuses on maternal and child healthcare promotion.

The free mobile community outreach ultrasound scan projects in the district started from August 3-6, 2015 in the various health centres in the district.

At Awenare Health Centre, 71 pregnant women were scanned, 67 scanned at Kwabeng, 14 in Kadowaso, whilst 141 pregnant women were scanned at Abomosu.

President of DMAC Foundation, Edmund Atweri Duodu, told DAILY GUIDE that the first phase of the scan project which ended in the Atiwa District recorded high patronage as compared to similar exercises held in Akwapim South, Ayensuano and Suhum districts where 183,258 and 140 pregnant women were respectively offered free ultra scan services.

Mr Duodu, who is also a public health nurse with the Ghana Health Service (GHS), pointed out that public education and family planning services must be intensified by the GHS and other stakeholders to help clamp down on the increasing rate of teenage pregnancy.

He revealed that ultra scan “helps to check the heartbeat of a baby, reveals either one is pregnant with one baby or twins or more, to detect an ectopic pregnancy, where the embryo implants outside the womb, usually in the fallopian tube.”