Mercy Hospital performs life-saving surgeries

Mercy Hospital surgical staff performed a c-section on Mabel to deliver a healthy baby girl.

Cesarean section deliveries save lives

The busy Mercy staff continues to deliver babies, through normal deliveries and cesarean deliveries when necessary.   Since the operating suite opened in 2018, the hospital has been able to provide life-saving emergency c-section procedures, saving the lives of mothers who are not able to deliver vaginally.   

The need for cesarean sections can be aggravated by a range of issues such as delays in accessing the appropriate level of care, and transportation delays.  Sierra Leone has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world, with 11 mothers dying of pregnancy-related complications for every 1000 live born babies.  The ability to perform c-section procedures at Mercy Hospital is a critical element of the global movement to reduce maternal mortality.  

 

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Saidu's mother comforts him after surgery to correct an inguinal hernia.

Simple hernia procedures save the lives of babies and toddlers

Two-year-old Saidu's family brought him to the hospital suffering from an inguinal hernia, a condition that Mercy sees very often, possibly due to premature birth.  Untreated, inguinal hernia can lead to permanent intestinal damage.

Successful surgery was performed on Saidu to correct the hernia.  His family couldn't afford to pay for the life-saving procedure for their son, and were grateful for Mercy's excellent care, which was provided for free. 

Inguinal hernias look like a bulge or swelling in the groin or scrotum, and may be seen more easily when the baby cries.   A hernia can develop in the first few months after a baby is born.  It happens because of a weakness in the abdominal muscles.  To correct the hernia, the surgeon puts the loop of intestine back into the abdominal area and stitches the muscles together. 

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