The Group General Manager, Ibadan Central Hospital (ICH), Mrs Olajumoke Caxton-Martins, has called on the government to do more in providing access to basic healthcare facilities for pregnant women.
Speaking at a health gathering for pregnant women in Ibadan on Wednesday, Caxton-Martins said more funds should be provided for the building of basic healthcare facilities. The gathering was organised by ICH to commemorate its 26th anniversary.
Caxton-Martins said that improved funding and better working conditions for doctors would save Nigeria from the brain drain menace, which had become a threat to the Nigerian medical sector.
According to her, the large migration of doctors and other health professionals seeking greener pastures abroad has increased the struggle to get qualified personnel to attend to many pregnant women.
This, she said, would naturally affect infant and maternal mortality.
“The government still has to step in because the structural development is not something an individual can undertake,” she said.
She noted that due to the economic hardship in the nation, many pregnant women had been finding it difficult to feed well and properly nurture the life in them.
Caxton-Martins, therefore, urged the government to come up with special policies that would ease the pains of pregnant women and address some other challenges they face.
She also called on the private sector to join hands with ICH to provide free drugs, food and basic medical services to people in the markets and rural communities.
“Pregnant women and nursing mothers need to feed well to be able to nurture the life in them and the lives they have just given birth to. Things are getting astronomically expensive and it is directly impacting on the ability of people to procure drugs. So, we ask for intervention. We also look for non-governmental organisations that can help,” she said.
Meanwhile, ICH Branch Managing Director, Dr Kareem Ahmed, said the hospital had been organising the healthcare programme for pregnant women from time to time.
The programme, he said, was to educate them on their condition and things they should look out for as pregnant women.
He urged the government to encourage private health facilities as partners in delivering quality health services.
According to Ahmed, this can be achieved by ensuring a steady power supply and other supports to reduce the operational cost of private medical outfits.
One of the participants, Mrs Titilayo Adeloye, lamented the high cost of baby materials in the market. She, however, lauded ICH for organising the health gathering and providing baby delivery materials to them.
NAN
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