First lady Patience Jonathan this afternoon called the deaths of hundreds of Nigerian women every year at childbirth "unacceptable."
Her comments came as she flagged off Maternal and Child Health (MNCH) Week to provide free medical care for millions of women and children in government-run health centres across the country.
The free services will include
birth registration
screening for nutrition
mosquito nets treated with long-lasting insecticides
antenatal care
child spacing information
breastfeeding
health education
neonatal care (for newborns)
vitamin A supplementation
immunisation
handwashing
Health minister Onyebuchi Chukwu called for legislation to make national health insurance mandatory, insisting it was the only way to make health care affordable and accessible for millions of Nigerians.
Unacceptable excuse
Jonathan flagged off the MNCH Week at Maitama District Hospital in the heart of Abuja, one of the city's hospitals beset by rapidly swelling patient population.
She said: "It is no more acceptable to make excuses for why one in 13 Nigerian women die in childbirth or why up to 157 out of every 1,000 Nigerian children may die before he or she reaches age five."
The MNCH Week, marked twice every year since the National Council on Health approved it three years ago, provides free medical services for women and children for seven days in all government-owned hospitals.
"The week is an opportunity to do something about this unacceptable situation, and remains our collective burden to ensure it is a success," Jonathan said in statement read by Helen Mark, wife of senate president.
NPHCDA executive director Muhammad Ado said the week was "opportunity to reach every mother and child" and called on state governments to ensure citizens get the free services.
The Federal Capital Territory administration assured the free services, including oral rehydration therapies, would be available in all 246 health centres within its territory. Last year, coverage for immunisation using DPT rose to 78%, said FCT minister of state Olajumoke Akinjide. It was also the first time in ten years that the FCT was free of wild polio virus, she added.
Mandatory insurance
Health minister Chukwu emphasised the services are free wherever government has them. But he said problems of skilled personnel, ignorance, distance from health facilties and affordability were reasons many fail to access health services.
"One of the ways we can achieve universal health care coverage is through some form of insurance," he suggested.
Many state governments are yet to begin buying health insurance for their staff.
Authorities of the National Health Insurance Scheme have admitted only the federal government was on the scheme, along with few private-sector businesses.
"We need to make health insurance mandatory," he said in direct comments to the "Chairman [of the] Senate Committee on Health [Gyang Dantong], we need to work on this." Chukwu said health insurance would make healthcare more affordable and accessible to individuals and move the country "to the next stage."
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201205270050.html
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