A woman in Juba has given birth successfully to triplets after surviving a difficult labour and suffering blood loss. She gave birth in the overcrowded maternity ward of the country's largest civil hospital.

Roda Ajah Diing, 36, mother of the triplets, developed bleeding complications after a prolonged labour. She says she still feels weak due to excessive bleeding.

She pointed out that she gave birth after sharing a bed with another mother at the maternity ward at Juba Teaching Hospital. “Still for me now I am very weak because of the loss of blood. And even those kids now they are crying nearby me. There is no milk. So that is one of the challenges,” said Roda.

“And the other challenges is... the maternity [ward] is very small. It needs to be supported. If there is support from the UN, because one person can share a bed with another one. Even the kids and the mothers can share,” she said.

“The time I was given blood, I was having another colleague in bed with me. We were sharing the bed, but we succeed because it is the condition of South Sudan. We are not going to blame these people in the hospital here. We try to beg the government of Southern Sudan and the NGOs to support us for the extension of the maternity [ward].”

Commenting on Roda's case, Dr. Alexander Dimitir, the Director General for Reproductive Health in the Ministry of Health, said that she was saved by a blood donor.

Roda “was in trouble,” the doctor said. “But today we are here happy with her, she is alive, the babies are alive and all of them are healthy simply because somebody donated blood to ensure that she survives.”

Dr. Alexander is appealing for South Sudanese and members of the international community to donate blood, saying that this will save lives. Until recently in Juba, blood transfusions were mainly only available to those who had relatives who could give blood, but a blood bank was opened in July 2014.

Lack of beds

Dr. John Chol Tipo, Director General at Juba Teaching Hospital, acknowledges that congestion is a problem at the hospital and that mothers give birth sharing beds even when giving birth to triplets.

“Even the verandas are not intended to be for beds but because of the conditions and with our current problems, everybody is coming to Juba, and therefore you find that the place is extremely crowded,” he said.

Nurses and midwives at the hospital say they deliver about 20 babies per day, carry out 50 caesarian sections per month, and another 80-100 evacuations in a month of persons having miscarriages.

Photo: Roda Ajah Diing, 36, is the mother of triplets

Related:

Health ministry in Juba launches blood donation campaign (11 Nov. 2014)

New blood bank at army hospital in S Sudan (23 Oct. 2014)