PAKTIKA, Afghanistan – Just hours after the class was given, a local nurse in Paktika province was given a life or death practical exam.
A female nurse, wishing to remain anonymous, was one of four medical practitioners that attended a class on post-delivery complications at the Shkin Clinic in Bermel District, Paktika province Feb. 11.
The class was given by Col. Michael Mouri, senior medical consultant for Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force – Afghanistan, after the clinic personnel requested the tutorial following the deaths of two village women in as many weeks from complications of child birth.
“The two women bled to death the week prior because the doctors just didn’t have the education needed to treat the complications,” said Mouri.
In the early morning hours, the day following the class, a woman came to the clinic in labor with her twelfth child.
“The delivery went well,” said Mouri. “But, the woman retained pieces of the placenta in her uterus which resulted in hemorrhaging.”
With the lessons she had learned the day before, the nurse attempted twice to remove the pieces manually without success and as the patient lost consciences, placed an urgent call to Col. Mouri and the U.S. special forces medics located nearby.
“I told her to try one more time and that we were on our way,” said Mouri.
On her third attempt, the nurse was able to remove the pieces and stop the blood loss, making the call to the medics unnecessary.
“When we got there, the patient had stopped bleeding,” said the USSF medic. “All we did was help treat the woman for shock.”
“I used to be nervous to insert hands for the manual removal of retained placenta,” said the nurse. “But, due to the courage that I have gained from his [Dr. Mouri's] lectures, I saved a mother.”
According to UNICEF, Afghanistan has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, with one out of eight women dying over the course of their lives due to child birth.
"The Ministry of Health priorities are on providing trauma training and support at the district level,” said Mouri. “Very little [MOH] attention is given to village clinics.”
Although the USSF medics provide trauma classes at the village clinics as well, traditionally village doctors must travel to district-level hospitals to receive training other than what the MOH mandates.
“These types of classes are very hard to give without female nurses and physicians to do it,” said Lt. Col. Dan Godbee, Special Operations Task Force – East battalion surgeon. “The cultural sensitivities in the rural areas can be just too great for men to teach classes to women about birth and reproductive complications.”
Col. Mouri was in the right place at the right time and the local doctors wanted the class right before another woman’s life depended on it, said Godbee.
“It is critically important that other classes are available at the village level,” said Mouri. “This case is an example of how learning these techniques are the difference between life and death.”
| Date Taken: |
02.20.2011 |
| Date Posted: |
02.20.2011 01:12 |
| Story ID: |
65766 |
| Location: |
PAKTIKA, AF |
| Web Views: |
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