Publication:

Causes of maternal deaths at Tezpur medical college & hospital, Tezpur, Assam, India: a retrospective study

Background The present study was undertaken to find out the causes of maternal deaths in O&G Department, TMCH, Tezpur, Assam.

Methods Data for the study was collected from all maternal deaths, in patients attending both OPD as well as Emergency, occurred from March ‘2014 to February ’2016 at TMCH, Tezpur.

Results Out of total 52 maternal deaths; 28.85% are due to anaemia, 25% are due to Haemorrhage, 19.23% are due to Toxaemia. Obstructed labor and sepsis accounts for 9.61% of maternal deaths, each; unsafe abortion and other categories accounts for 3.84 % of maternal deaths, each. Out of total maternal deaths, 86.5 % belonged to rural areas, 21.2% are unbooked cases, 73.1% are poor literates and 67.3% are from poor socioeconomic groups. Out of 52 deaths, 50 cases died within 24 hrs.

Conclusions In our study it is observed that anaemia, haemorrhage and toxaemia are the three major causes of maternal deaths in TMCH, Tezpur. Obstructed labour, sepsis, unsafe abortions, etc. are the causes of the rest of the maternal deaths. It is seen from the study that illiteracy, ignorance, unawareness, poor socioeconomic conditions, lack of antenatal checkups, non-availability of quality care set ups, and drawbacks in referral systems were the major causative factors.