Background: Health institutions need to contribute their quota towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) with respect to maternal health. In order to do so, current data on maternal mortality are essential for health care providers and policy makers to study the burden of the problem and understand how best to distribute resources. This study presents the magnitude and distribution of the causes of the maternal deaths at the beginning of the 21^st century in an Egyptian general hospital and derives recommendations to reduce their frequency. Objectives: to identify and assess the factors contributing to maternal mortality, especially the hospital-relevant ones, and to determine the most preventable causes in order to reduce the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) calculated for Embaba General Hospital. Methods: This is a retrospective study of mortality records of obstetric cases at Embaba General Hospital during the period between (January 1^st 2001) and (December 31^st 2010). Results: There were 41 maternal deaths and 52096 live births during the study period. Thirty six mothers (87.8%) died due to direct causes while only five deaths(12.2%) were due to indirect maternal causes. The major causes of deaths were obstetric haemorrhage (56.1%), pulmonary embolization (17.0%) and eclampsia (12.2%). The maternal mortality ratio was 78.7 per 100,000 live births. Conclusion: In the first decade of the new millennium, a large number of pregnant women receiving care continued to die from preventable causes of maternal deaths. Adoption of evidence-based protocol for the management of hemorrhage and improvement in the quality of obstetric care of emergencies would go a long way to significantly reduce the frequency of maternal deaths at this hospital.