RAWALPINDI, April 19: Unbooked delivery cases constitute a very high percentage of births in government hospitals due to lack of public awareness about antenatal care.

A large number of these cases then becomes part of the high risk pregnancies, posing a direct danger to the lives of both the mother and the newborn.

Data collected by the gynaecology department of the Rawalpindi General Hospital showed that last year 3,168 deliveries took place at the hospital, 46.94 per cent (1487) of whom were unbooked.

Prof Asma Tanvir Usmani, head of the gynae department, talking to Dawn regretted the negligence of parents towards antenatal care and said the figure of unbooked patients could be much higher, because 6.8 per cent of other mothers who gave birth at the hospital had only had a single visit before delivery.

“Only 15 per cent of the mothers underwent continuous antenatal care at the hospital right from the first trimester.” A serious factor, Dr Usmani added, was the haemoglobin level of the mothers. Only 26 per cent of the patients were conformed to the minimum standard of 11gm/dl, others had lower levels.

The incidence of unplanned pregnancies, she said, too was very high and around 40 per cent of the women had not planned to become mothers.

Around 13 per cent of the mothers were less than 20 years of age, 60 per cent were between 21 and 30 years, 22 per cent in 31- 35 years’ age group and others were of more than 35 years.

The data showed that 82 per cent of the mothers were house wives, while the rest were working women.

She said 32 per cent of the mothers were illiterate, 31 per cent had education upto primary, 25 per cent up to secondary level, while the rest had got schooling beyond matriculation.

About 27 per cent of the husbands were illiterate, 33 per cent received primary level education, 28 per cent up to secondary and the rest had one form or the other of higher education.

As many as 68 per cent of the mothers came from joint family system, while 32 per cent were from single families.

Dr Usmani said the family system was important for mothers because of the sharing of resources. In joint families, she said, mothers got poor share in feed and other resources.

Anaemia and hypertension were the most common disorders followed by diabetes and jaundice. The use of contraceptives was very low and quite a large number of the women were unaware of the family planning methods.