BAUCHI — The Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Agency, BPHCDA, has identified shortage of midwives at the primary health care level as the major factor threatening maternal, new born and child survival in the state.
Chairman of the agency, Mr Ibrahim Gamawa, at a one-day roundtable on maternal and child health in Bauchi, said inadequate number of skilled midwives in most PHCs, especially at the grassroots, contributed to the high rate of maternal mortality in the state.
According to him, “a current survey conducted by the agency showed that there are one million pregnant women in the state which is as a result of the influx of migrants to the state due to insecurity challenges experienced in some parts of the North-East region.
“Bauchi State has 1,200 health facilities which cut across the state but there are less than 300 midwives employed in the state. This is a big challenge which is threatening the maternal, new born and child survival in the state.
“You can now see that the number of the midwives employed is not commiserate with the number of health facilities across the state and this is caused by factors ranging from recruitment, delay in payment of salaries, refusal of posting to rural areas and lack of training and retraining programmes for health workers.”
He said skilled care during pregnancy, childbirth and the immediate postpartum period by healthcare professionals such as midwives with appropriate skills were key interventions in the reduction of maternal mortality.
He urged the three tiers of government and stakeholders in the health sector to also ensure the deployment of midwives with adequate remuneration to the rural areas where most of the maternal deaths occur.
By Suzan Edeh
Vanguard
ABUJA: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
PORTHARCOURT: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
LAGOS: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
STOP paying for airtime and electricity, Let your phone pay its bills with ScreenT
You may also like
Comrade Lemii Christian Emerges Chairman of NANNM Rivers State Branch in Historic Victory
PORT HARCOURT, NIGERIA Following the long awaited National Association of N…
FG Supports Robotic Surgery Expansion to Reduce Medical Tourism
Nigeria is taking another step toward strengthening specialised healthcare …
Complete Knee Replacement Rehabilitation Package in Lagos
Knee replacement surgery is a major step toward pain relief and improved mo…
NAMDA threatens strike over unpaid medical lecturers’ allowances
The Nigerian Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) has warned…
Resident Doctors Signal End to Strike Threat After High-Level Talks with Gbajabiamila
The threat of a nationwide indefinite strike by the Nigerian Association of…
