Criminal abortion cases increase in Sunyani

Mrs Monica Oppong, a midwife in charge of the Sunyani Municipal maternity ward on Thursday expressed concern about the increasing rate of criminal abortions among students between 15 and 25 years in the municipality.

She told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that last year the hospital attended to 34 of such cases in which some of them were very critical.

Mrs Oppong said almost all those involved who were rushed to the hospital had either drunk a concoction or applied herbs to their private parts in an attempt to terminate the pregnancy.

She advised the youth, especially students, to concentrate on their studies and abstain from early sex.

She advised the youth who cannot stay away premarital sex to practice family planning, explaining that the best method was abstinence.

The midwife said the hospital recorded five babies who were born on Leap Year on Wednesday, February 29, comprising four males and a female.

She said three of the babies were normal deliveries whilst two were through caesarean section.

She advised expectant women to attend ante-natal clinics and eat balanced diet so that they could give birth to healthy babies.