In Honduras, large numbers of postpartum mothers have been forced to sleep on the floors in the General South Hospital. According to the article, “la falta de espacio en el albergue materno que tiene el Hospital General del Sur obliga a puérperas a tener que dormir en el suelo.”(El Heraldo)
The area for postpartum mothers to stay with their babies only has seven beds, however the weekly influx of mothers is around 20. KH Note: Small clarification, not to take away from the difficult conditions these Honduran mothers face: the article says that while there about 20 newborns admitted to the neonatal center at the hospital each week, the hospital only has seven beds available for mothers who want to sleep at the hospital to care for and breast feed their infants. Now it is obvious that there is an issue. In the article, two mothers share their experience with the hospital one named “Maria” and the other “Carmen.” Both mothers got the all clear to leave the hospital, however were shocked to hear that their children had to be moved to a separate location due to complications. They had to sleep on the floor because they were worried about their babies and needed to be there for them, “Carmen” even had a C-Section and was forced to sleep on the ground. This event wasn’t only limited to these two women, this kind of thing happens all the time all over Honduras.
El Heraldo asked the directors of the hospital what they would do about the lack of space, and the hospital assures the public that they are doing things to increase the space in the maternity ward.
This article is by a Latin American newspaper for a Latin American audience, however, if more people were to see this then the portrayal would not be very good. It shows a lot of the issues that Honduras has and why it has one of the largest wealth inequalities in the world.
Honduras experienced its own “revolution” in 2009 when there was a coup d’etat against the president Manuel Zelaya. The after effects of the revolution are still felt today as partly evidenced by this occurrence. Mel, during his administration, lost large sums of money that were meant for the educational fund. Teachers went on strike for a large period of time (I actually remember this.)