Lauretta Fagbohun, Ogun
More mid wives are to be employed in all maternity homes in the twenty local government of Ogun State, to reduce cases of maternal mortality.
The first lady of Ogun State, Mrs Bamidele Abiodun disclosed this in her address at a town hall meeting organized by the Joint Community Development Association (JCDA) and Ogun Women on Maternal Health and Front line Workers held in Abeokuta.
She said all efforts must be put in place to employ more nurses and mid wives to reduce maternal mortality in the State.
Mrs Abiodun called on all Stakeholders to come together to help improve healthcare delivery system in the rural areas.
According to her, there is a need to give a level playing field for women in the rural areas in the area of maternal health.
"We need to put more efforts in employing more nurses and mid wives to reduce maternal mortality in the State.
"Improving the State of maternal health in the rural areas in Ogun State will require the involvement of all of us.
"We need to give every body an equal opportunity, we need to give a level playing field for women, they are just like us, just vulnerable because of circumstance , it could be anyone of us.
"we should also encourage and allow our children to go to school of Nursing, to increase professionals in the sector as the State is presently experiencing a decline.
The President National Association of Nurses and Midwives in Nigeria (NANMN), Micheal Nnachi in her speech appealed to the State government to give automatic employments to graduates of the State owned college of Nursing and Mid Wives, notingthat this will help the State to solve its current nursing staff manpower deficit.
A presentation by Mr Olaitan Jide of JDPC revealed that their are only 215 nurses in the State now serving in the 448 health centers across the State.
He said "Despite the reiterated commitment to increase the share of health sector financing in the government budget to at least the 15 percent recommended in the Abuja Declaration, this is yet to be achieved
According to him, "execution of the program budget continues to be plagued by several impediments, including low absorption capacity, delayed release of funds, non-release of funds, and complexities in the procurement processes. Efforts should be scaled up to address these impediments to ensure smooth implementation of the budget and improve budget performance especially for the key program aimed at upgrading primary health care centres, ensuring medical supplies are available and investing more in the training of the medical personnel including those that are charged with the responsibility of ensuring that primary health care facilities are clean".
The National President ably represented by the State chairman of the association, Mrs Roseline Solarin opined that a State like Ogun with about three Universities and five colleges of Nursing shouldn't be lacking nurses.
He said that this shortage is one of the causes of increased maternal mortality in the State, especially in the rural Communities.
In his opinion if this problem is solved, maternal mortality will reduce in the State.
