Prenatal care in primary health care centers of Al Hassa, Saudi Arabia.

The objective of this study was to determine the performance of Al Hassa primary health care (PHC) centers in the scope of prenatal care and to have a baseline data for future evaluation of achievement in that field. A retrospective study was done by collecting information on a pre-designed form from the available records in the PHC centers. The number of registered pregnant ladies for prenatal care in PHC centers was 10,594 which was equal to 58% of the estimated number of pregnant ladies in Al-Hassa, in 1409 H (the official calendar of Saudi Arabia corresponding to 1989). The immunization coverage by tetanus toxoid of the registered pregnant ladies was 66.7% for the first dose and 40.3% for the second dose. Forty six percent of the registered pregnancies was identified by PHC staff as high risk pregnancy. It was found that 64.4% of the high risk pregnancy was due to causes in the reproductive history, 25.4% due to associated medical conditions and 7.2% due to causes in the present pregnancy. A self criticism and future need to improve prenatal services are discussed.