Pregnant Women In Quake Zone At Risk

In addition to other problems, pregnant women who survived the South Asian earthwuake are now at risk for miscarriages, premature labor and death.Amid all the misery plaguing survivors of the South Asian earthquake comes another concern. Health officials worry that the quake may have triggered a number of miscarriages and premature labor among the estimated 40,000 pregnant women living in the quake zone.

That puts an extra layer of demands on Pakistan's health care system, which many experts consider barely adequate in the best of times. The earthquake not only killed at least 79,000 people, it also destroyed or seriously damaged a number of medical clinics and hospitals in northwestern Pakistan and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. A doctor volunteering at the only hospital still standing in one town says six of the 30 deliveries performed in the last ten days were stillborn, while there have also been at least ten miscarriages since the quake hit.


Source: WFMY News 2