Maternal deaths case in Supreme Court
80 per cent of maternal deaths are caused by severe bleeding, infections, unsafe abortion, high blood pressure and obstructed labour. Lack of access to life saving HIV treatment is another major contributor to maternal deaths and results in high rates of mother to child transmission of HIV. In Uganda, untreated HIV contributes to about one out of four maternal deaths.
What you need to know:
Petitioners are seeking a declaration that the crisis of preventable maternal mortality in government health facilities is an infringement of mothers’ rights to life and to health.
KAMPALA
Hearing of the appeal where the government was sued for allegedly failing to prevent maternal deaths failed to take off in the Supreme Court yesterday.
The hearing of the appeal hit a snag after the Attorney General’s representative, Ms Patricia Muteesi, failed to appear as she was reportedly sick. Court adjourned the hearing to the next session. Civil society group: Centre for Health Human Rights and Development (CEHURD), together with affected and concerned individuals; Rhoda Kukiriza, Valente Inziku and a Makerere Don, Prof Ben Twinimugisha, are suing the government in the Constitutional Court.
Last year, the court dismissed their petition on account that maternal mortality issues are a responsibility of the Executive arm of government to address and not the court since it is a “political question.”
The petitioners appealed to the Supreme Court to nullify the ruling of the Constitutional Court and declare that the justices of the court misapplied the “political question” doctrine to be a responsibility of the Executive arm of government, not the court.
The petitioners are seeking a declaration that the public health crisis of preventable maternal mortality and non-provision of essential maternal health commodities and services in government health facilities that lead to deaths of pregnant women is an infringement of their rights to life and to health.
The justices of the Constitutional Court who dismissed the petition are: Deputy Chief Justice Alice Mpagi-Bahigeine now retired), Steven Kavuma, Augustine Nshimye and Remmy Kasule and the late Constance Byamugisha.
The verdict was sharply criticised by civil society and legal experts on grounds that the Constitutional Court was wrong to claim that it does not have authority to decide on the matter. Statistics released recently by the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood show that 17 women die every day in Uganda due to preventable maternal related complications. Previously, the rate was at 16.
The statistics also show that 106 new-born babies die every day in Uganda partly due to inadequate government investment in life-saving emergency obstetric and newborn care.
The petitioners further argue that the justices of the Constitutional Court erred in law when they held that the petitioners did not raise competent questions that required their interpretation under article 137 of the constitution.
The petition highlights two cases of Sylvia Nalubowa and Jennifer Anguko, both women who died during childbirth at Mityana and Arua government hospitals respectively.
Should the Supreme Court overturn the lower court’s ruling of the Constitutional Court, the matter will be referred back to the court to hear it afresh on its merits.
The petition was dismissed at the preliminary stage before the hearing after the court agreed with the attorney general that the issue of maternal deaths was not for the court to decide since it falls under the “political question” category.
