Dr. Rukevwe Ugumba is the Special Adviser to the Governor on Health Monitoring. She speaks on the free health programme of the state government.
(http://nationalmirroronline.net/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/State-of-the-art-medical-equipment-at-the-Teaching-Hospital-in-Oghara.jpg) (http://nationalmirroronline.net/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/State-of-the-art-medical-equipment-at-the-Teaching-Hospital-in-Oghara.jpg) State of the art medical equipment at the Teaching Hospital in Oghara
The various free health programmes
We are fortunate in Delta State to have a physician at the helm of affairs. It would be recalled that the first thing he did when he came into power in 2007 was to address the issue of maternal mortality ratio by launching the free maternal healthcare programme, which ensures that every woman who is pregnant must be attended to and delivered in all the government- owned hospitals.
Besides the free health programme, the women were also given other incentives because we found out that some came only for antenatal and didn't come back for delivery because labour can happen at any time. This affected the aim of the programme, but just two classes during the antenatal changed the outcome because they were taught the signs of labour and what to do. So, the bottom line is that the programme was a huge factor in bringing down our maternal mortality ratio.
Another programme that we have is the free healthcare for under-five children because the first five years of live is really critical. As a result of this, everything has to be carefully handled because some preventable diseases like polio can cause permanent disabilities for these little ones. We make sure that all the treatments for children under-five years are completely free, so that we ensure the survival of both the mothers and their babies. We also have the free rural healthcare where we go round the rural areas periodically to offer free services to children.
Easy assess to healthcare
We have equally ensured that our healthcare centres are easily assessable because the World Health Organisation's standard is that there must be a health centre for every six square kilometres. Delta State has over 400 primary healthcare centres. This means that we have more than double of what we require which makes it possible for anyone to walk easily into one no matter wherever he or she is in the state. These health centres are run by the local governments but the state gives them subventions. We have also ensured that there are trained medical personnel at each of the health centres.
I will also point out that we acquired what we call the mobile field hospital in 2012, which has completely changed the face of rural healthcare in the state. It is a state-of-the-art facility and we can do all sorts of surgeries in it. So, I will say that Delta State has the most comprehensive healthcare system and that is why we have a very low maternal and infant mortality ratio as well as less premature deaths.
Funding of the programmes
The state government is committed to these programmes because Governor Uduaghan insists that he wants to be remembered for one thing: that no woman died while giving birth and he is genuinely committed to it. He spends over N500 million on these programmes annually. However, we will welcome partners. Recently, Pfizer came in to partner us in the area of provision of vaccines for the prevention of pneumonia which kills children and low immunity people like pregnant women. We like to see more of that from other corporate organisations and individuals.
Enduring health legacy
Our teaching hospital is the best in the West African region. We are also building a cardio-renal centre which will also be the best in the region. Also being built by the state is a renal transplant centre because we are seeing more people with kidney problems in the country. Right now we have the best dialysis unit in the region and we have a partnership with an American university in this regard. Some personnel have gone for training at the university while another set will be going soon. So, this government will leave the best legacy in healthcare delivery anywhere in Nigeria when it is done in two years time.
National Mirror