How To Have A Successful Government Birth

Be prepared for your stay at a state hospital, and make the most of it, too,

- Sr Burgie Ireland

PRIVATE AND GOVERNMENT hospitals in South Africa are worlds apart. Where private hospitals are serene places with shiny linoleum floors, state hospitals are busy places with zero luxuries. Both however have the same objectives, and that’s to have healthy mothers and healthy babies.

Most South African women will give birth at government hospitals. Some of the challenges facing these hospitals include the HIV/Aids crisis (patient overload), huge numbers of teenage pregnancies (many of whom have had no antenatal care), unbooked patients (often foreigners who don’t understand the language or instructions) and undiagnosed complications. When this happens, tragedies that could have been avoided can occur and government hospitals stand accused.

ADVANTAGES OF A GOVERNMENT BIRTH

Every South African woman or foreigner with asylum or refugee status is entitled to go to a government clinic or hospital to have her baby – free of charge. Many of South Africa’s prized obstetrical specialists work and teach in government academic hospitals. Pregnant women with complications are referred from outlying clinics and midwives obstetric units (MOUs) to these hospitals for further investigations, where she is treated by a team of specialists. Government hospitals are also staffed by doctors, nurses and midwives who are young, ambitious and dedicated to their careers in medicine.