Tyrone Reid, Enterprise Reporter

AS IF labour pains were not enough, many expectant mothers on the labour wards at public hospitals are forced to share beds with other pregnant women.

A 29-year-old mother of two, who gave birth to her second child on the morning of November 27 at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital (VJH), tells The Sunday Gleaner that without warning, she had to make room for another patient on the small bed she occupied before giving birth. "There was no explanation given," Wilson relates, describing the situation as "totally disgusting".

Frustration

"The beds are small ... They are twin-sized beds. That's what my son sleeps on. So imagine two adults who are pregnant," the mother says in painting a picture of her frustration with the public-health system.

She reasons that the limited space on the bed does not go well with the intimate demands of the birth process and adds more discomfort to the final stages of pregnancy.

The wait for a bed

On a recent visit to the VJH, The Sunday Gleaner saw mothers who had given birth earlier that day sitting on a wooden bench outside of the ward, waiting for an available bed. Two of the three mothers had their hours-old babies in their laps.

They revealed that they were waiting to be checked into the post-natal ward. One mother, who had given birth around noon, lamented that she had been waiting since 4 p.m. It was now minutes to six. Even after our team left around 6:30 p.m., at least one mother was still waiting for a bed to become available.

When confronted, the Ministry of Health denied that mothers had to wait that long.

"At VJH, patients are placed in a bed shortly after delivery. This is on average within half an hour.

The ministry explained that mothers sitting on a bench with baby in hand might occur for two reasons: "To process mothers upon arrival at the ward, or to administer the BCG vaccine (the first vaccine a child receives after birth). On either occasion, mothers do not wait for two hours."

But one of the mothers who had to sit and wait for close to two hours. was shocked by the ministry's denial. "Why dem keep on denying it and is true?" she queried during an interview after she had left the hospital.