Kano State Commissioner for Health, Dr Abubakar Labaran Yusuf, has lamented that some women in the state continued to suffer from excessive bleeding after childbirth due to the refusal of about 70 percent of them to attend antenatal services.
According to him, the research findings indicate that over 70% of women in Kano State prefer giving birth at home, despite the risks involved.
This was just as he added; “This administration revived the free maternal and child health program to address these avoidable deaths, but only 30 percent of the women attend the free antenatal services. You only see them during complicated labour.”
Making this known, Dr. Abubakar Labaran Yusuf, at a one-day workshop on advancing women’s health in Kano State: leveraging government policies and community engagement.
However, the workshop was part of the activities of the Strengthening Multi-Level Partnership for Advancing Women’s Health Project in Kano, organized by the Center for Communication and Social Impact (CCSI) and Pathfinder International.
Labaran disclosed that many women avoid hospitals for antenatal care and delivery, which increases health risks for both mother and child.
He therefore warned that a lack of prenatal planning often leads to complications, sometimes resulting in untimely deaths.
Dr. Labaran highlighted the challenges in remote areas, where limited access to healthcare facilities contributes to high maternal mortality rates in Kano and Northern Nigeria as a whole.
However, Dr. Labaran clarified that the study’s figures differ from the ministry’s official statistics. “We are currently compiling our annual report, which will provide more accurate data,” he said.
He also expressed his displeasure over how health workers are conniving with beneficiaries of the free drug program to steal drugs meant for people in the state adding that the move is sabotaging the state government’s commitment to free healthcare delivery.
Dr. Labaran emphasised; “A lot of people, both the workers and the beneficiaries of the program (free drugs in Kano), connive to steal the drugs, which is a sort of depriving person who really needs the drugs from getting the services.
“This is one of the problems that we are addressing, and we have succeeded greatly, but still there are some pockets of thefts in facilities.”
He further disclosed the state government has taken measures to address the problem.
“We have adopted an electronic medical record (EMR) to address this problem. By doing this, we will have the records and access to all the patients who are benefiting from the drugs. This will help us to easily track the beneficiaries,” he said.
The commissioner added that the state government had embarked on statewide renovation of all facilities and employment of health workers to make them more convenient and conducive for deliveries.
Speaking at the occasion, Professor Baba Maiyaki Musa of Bayero University Kano, who presented a paper on the new Maternal and New Born Health MNH Innovations in Nigeria, said postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is the leading cause of maternal mortality worldwide and in Kano in particular.
He highlighted that” Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is severe vaginal bleeding after childbirth. PPH can occur after delivery or up to 12 weeks postpartum.
He however enumerated that the delayed diagnosis, missed treatment, and delayed escalation of refractory PPH as some of the major challenges.
Prof. Musa, however, expressed dismay over maternal mortality in the state and revealed that 70 percent of deliveries occur outside the facilities.
“The leading cause of home deliveries in the state is the nonchalant attitude of some healthcare workers. To address this, Prof. Baba said health workers must make the services accessible and treat their patients as customers,” he said.
The Senior Technical Advisor, CCSI, Oluyemi Abodunrin, said the project was aimed at interrogating Kano State policy on women’s health, its effectiveness, and seeking ways of improvement so as to better the health of women and girls in the state.
He called on members of the media to help stress the need for people at the grassroots the importance of patronising recognised medical hospitals when facing health challenges.
The media should also assist in communicating to our grassroots women the need to go to hospital during and after delivery of their child to avert untimely death of their children and themselves.
Abodunrin, the seminar aimed to highlight the importance of women’s and girls’ health.
He explained that Kano was chosen as the event location due to its population size and the state’s high maternal mortality rates.
“Nigeria is one of the countries with the highest maternal mortality rates in the world,” he said.
However, Dr Umma Abubakar Isah, Coordinator of Family Planning and Reproductive Health at the State Ministry of Health, harped on the timely release of funds for reproductive healthcare.
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