Papua New Guinea's leading obstetrician tells women not to get pregnant for two years

Papua New Guinea’s leading obstetrician has told women in the country to delay getting pregnant for two years over fears of coronavirus.

Glen Mola, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Papua New Guinea, told ABC news in Australia that women should delay getting pregnant until the pandemic is over because the country’s hospital will not be able to cope if infections run out of control.

Dr Mola said: "It's best not to plan a pregnancy this year or perhaps even next year, because we don't know how the epidemic is going to run.”

According to the latest statistics from the World Health Organization there have been just 11 cases of the disease in the Pacific nation and no deaths as of July 2, although there are fears of underreporting.

The country shares a border with the Indonesia province of West Papua, which has had more than 290 cases, and the threat of importation is high.

The country’s health service has been described as “dysfunctional” by two Papua New Guinean academics and there are just 500 doctors and 4,000 nurses in a country of 8 million people.

The nation’s lockdown has also meant that pregnant women are unable to get proper care and Dr Mola told ABC news of a heavily pregnant woman who was turned away from the hospital after seeking care for high blood pressure. She gave birth but the baby died.

"Every day I see problems that have occurred because women have tried to access care when they've had problems and they haven't been able to do so," he said.

Professor Mola said the Port Moresby General Hospital was now set up to screen people with fevers or respiratory symptoms at the front gate and "most" pregnant women were now being accepted.

Being pregnant is not associated with a higher risk of becoming infected with the coronavirus or worse outcomes. However, in the UK they are assessed as having a “moderate” risk as a precaution.

A study looking at the outcomes of 427 pregnant women hospitalised with the disease in the UK showed that 97 per cent gave birth to healthy babies and the likelihood of serious problems to the mother were similar to non pregnant populations.

And according to research carried out by the University of Birmingham there is as yet no confirmed evidence that a mother infected with coronavirus can pass it to her unborn child. However, there have been suspected cases of this and researchers said more studies are needed in this area.

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