18 May 2010

Answers sought for baby boom at Fiji's CWM Hospital

9:02 pm on 18 May 2010

A maternal health specialist in Fiji says poor family planning, urban shift and women shunning smaller hospitals are the likely causes of a baby boom at Fiji's main hospital.

Dr Temalesi McCaig heads a campaign to raise awareness on maternal safety.

Her group's surveying mothers giving birth at Suva's Colonial War Memorial Hospital to get answers to a surprise surge in births in the last four months.

"Women feel a bit more comfortable with pregnancy and delivery being seen in a tertiary centre than being seen out in the other zones and also there's an influx of people coming into the urban areas. They're coming to seek jobs, they're coming to seek employment and education."

Dr McCaig says some women travel up to four days to get to hospital in Suva from outlying areas which places alot of stress on them, their unborn babies and families trying to manage away from home.