Some 12,042 babies were delivered at public and private health facilities in the Tema Metropolis in 2009.
Out of the total, 11,905 were live births, while 137 were still births, Mrs Judith Amo-Mensah, Public Health Nurse in-charge of Reproductive and
Child-Health Services at the Tema Metropolitan Health Directorate, said this to the GNA in an interview.
Mrs Amo-Mensah said 2,778 deliveries have already been recorded in the first quarter of this year, compared to the 2,851 deliveries documented for
the same period in 2009.
She said out of the 2,778 deliveries during the first quarter of this year 42, representing 1.5 percent, were delivered by Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs).
She said the figure could be more, since there might be some TBAs and self styled midwives whose activities were yet to be captured by the Directorate.
Mrs Amo-Mensah said even though there was a decrease in the number of deliveries in the first quarter of this year, as compared to that of 2009,
27 still births were recorded for 2009, while this year's figure is 42.
Whereas 2,824 live births were recorded for the first quarter of 2009, 2,736 live births had been observed this year, she stated.
She said out of the 42 still births recorded this year, 17 died immediately after birth, while 25 died some few days after being delivered.
She attributed the death of the babies to prolonged labour and diseases from their mothers, especially malaria.
Mrs Amo-Mensah said out of the total live births for this year, 2,495 weighed above 2.5 kilos, while 241 weighed below 2.5 kilos.