Pregnant Women Cautioned Against Self-Medication

Expectant women in the first three months of pregnancy have been cautioned against self-medication since it has been identified as a common cause of children born with malformation.

It is very dangerous for them to take enemas, herbal concoctions or even orthodox medicines that have not been prescribed by competent medical practitioners.

The Sunyani Municipal Director of Health Services, Dr David Opare, who gave the warning, said the first three months of pregnancy is crucial to the development of the foetus.

He said since the foetus formed important structures, the ingestion of drugs, some of which can react to the formation should be avoided. Dr Opare was speaking to Space News in Sunyani.

He said though if detected early, some of the deficiencies can be corrected, it is better for women to take pre-cautionary measures against their children contracting genital diseases.

He mentioned hypnopaedia, epispadia, extrophy of the bladder, posterior urethral valves, all problems relating to the urethra with some causing urinary retention and hermaphrodite (intersex) and undescended testis. The municipal health director said other causes of such disorders include family history, women who grow very old before getting pregnant for the first time giving birth to too many children.

Space FM asked whether these defects if reconstructed will not affect the virility, erection or fertility of affected children especially males.

He said everything in that regard is normal after the operation except when affected children are allowed to grow too old before they are made to seek medical attention or with cases relating to urethra and bladder.

?Most of these problems can be corrected when the child is one year, anytime beyond is quite uncertain,? he concluded.