Find solutions to maternal, infant mortality rate in Nigeria, Abiodun tasks Specialists

By Olorunfemi Adejuyigbe

Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, has tasked members of the Association of Feto-Maternal Medicine Specialists in Nigeria, on the need to come up with medical solutions capable of reducing maternal and infant mortality rate in the country.

Abiodun stated this while receiving members of the Association led by its president, Professor Saturday Etuk, on a courtesy call in his office at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, on Wednesday.

He noted that as an important branch in the medical field that deals with issues relating to pregnant women and their unborn children, the Association should be given all the needed attention it deserves.

“I must say that the world and the society at large owes a lot to you because that is the beginning of life. But for the sacrifices and the commitment of people like you, we won’t be where we are anywhere in the world.

“The pressure statistics you reeled out to us are due to the efforts and dedication of people like yourselves who continue to come up with practices to ensure that we have more people that are surviving maternal care or more children that are not born as still birth”, the governor added.

He emphasized the importance of health sector to the enthronement of good governance, saying that the current administration since inception has made huge investment in the sector through the rehabilitation of over 236 Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs), provision of modern medical equipment as well as employment and improved welfare package for health workers.

“When we came in, there were five ambulances for a population of between six to seven million people. That makes it one ambulance for one million people. But we thank God that now we have about 50 ambulances; we are even running an ambulance service to cover the whole state.

“Also, on my assumption of office, my first visit was to the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu being our flagship tertiary health centre. I wanted to see things for myself. I want to tell you that I was highly disappointed with what I met on ground. The infrastructure had collapsed totally and the hospital was understaffed.

“We are repositioning the hospital now with new medical equipment and we have also carried out recruitment of medical personnel. Very soon, the hospital will have a world class mother and child ward in the hospital”, the governor said.

While assuring that his administration would continue to prioritise the health sector, especially on issues relating to mother and child, Abiodun informed that some of the steps taken were in line with his administration’s policy towards the well-being and wellness of the people, as only healthy people can contribute to the development of the state.

The governor who thanked the association for the visit, assured that his administration would continue to put more efforts to ensure that the state known for its medical proficiency, reduce the diseases to the barest minimum, promising that the government was willing to assist the association in any area.

“We are glad that you are bringing your conference to Ogun state. We hope that your deliberations will promote excellent maternal and child healthcare, and standardize the practice of gynaecology in the country”, he submitted.

Earlier, the President of the Association, Prof. Etuk, said the aim of the association was to find ways of reducing infant and maternal mortality in the country, adding that they were in the state for a scientific conference to find ways of training their specialists on how to handle issues relating to unborn babies and their mothers.

He commended the governor’s vision on health, which he said tallies with that of the association and for the huge investment in the health sector has helped to reduce maternal mortality rate in the state.