Montenegro strengthens control over maternity wards
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Montenegro strengthens control over maternity wards
The Ministry of Health of Montenegro once again drew attention to the prevention of infections and compliance with safety standards in the country's maternity wards. The last checks were made after the deadly virus killed the baby in the hospital in 2014.
A joint inspection of the Ministry of Health and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) began this Monday. The aim of the inspection is to further reduce the possibility of spreading infections in hospitals. The action is supported by experts from the Trieste Institute of Child and Maternal Health.
During the ten-day inspection there will be a joint assessment of the safety and quality of inpatient care for mothers and newborns. It is planned to inspect three large state hospitals in the country - in the cities of Podgorica, Nikshich and Cetinje.
This method of quality control of medical institutions will be applied in the future in all segments of the health care system. This is not an assessment of our current work, but we need to conduct it with competent experts, and on the basis of the findings to update the health care system, the Minister of Health said in a statement.
The first UNICEF report on the situation in Montenegrin maternity hospitals, released in 2013, showed that caring for mothers and newborn children in Montenegro is often of poor quality, especially with regard to information, confidentiality and, in general, assistance to mothers and children. He also showed a low level of clinical services, often the lack of basic equipment for infant care. Lack of interaction between obstetricians and neonatologists. The results of the report also led to the conclusion that confidentiality and the principle of inviolability of private life are not observed in health institutions. A high level of cesarean sections was registered.
The report noted that in most maternity hospitals basic rules of hygiene are not observed. In some offices there were no properly organized places for washing hands, not enough liquid soap, disposable towels and antiseptics.
The second examination in the maternity hospitals was followed by the infection of a deadly virus in a hospital in Belo Pole, in November 2014, when five children became infected, one of whom died two weeks after the onset of the disease. The doctors confirmed that the babies had septicemia and meningitis caused by infection. Health Minister Miodrag Radunović resigned after the incident, but hundreds of people staged a protest in the capital demanding more action from the authorities. The management of the maternity hospital in Belo Pole was dismissed, and the state prosecution launched an investigation to determine the culprit in the spread of the infection and the death of the child.
After the incident in Belo-Pole, the ministry promised that it would take measures to prevent infections and strengthen control in all public hospitals in the country.
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