Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu Wife of the Governor of Lagos State, has said that conscious efforts must be made to considerably reduce child death and death of pregnant women.
She made the call on Saturday at the commissioning of the Maternal & Child Centre (MCC), in Omole, Ikeja, stating that was the whole essence of the idea of Mother & Child Hospital.
Sanwo-Olu said the unveiling of this edifice will no doubt go a long way to favourably improve the health indices in the State, especially as it concerns maternal and child care, and further help to achieve universal and comprehensive healthcare coverage in the State.
“With a population of over 22 million residents and the influx of people into Lagos on a daily basis, public infrastructure including healthcare facilities in the State and the medical personnel are already over-stretched.
“As we know, government cannot do it alone; and it is for this reason that I commend the management of Mother and Child Hospitals.
“I am pleased to be part of this significant milestone marking the official inauguration of the Mother & Child Hospital, Omole Centre, by Mother & Child Hospitals,” said Sanwo –Olu.
Also speaking at the commissioning, Ralph Olarewaju, medical director of Mother and Child Hospital, said that the vision of the facility was to cater for the family, knowing that Nigeria’s healthcare system particularly on the mother and child are not fantastic.
“We must also change the reality now that many of our women are dying in child birth and many of the children do not live up to 5 years. That is why we have opened this facility,” he said.
Olarewaju said that billons of naira are spent aboard for medical treatment. “We want to change that scenario in this country; that is why we built this ultramodern facility.
“We want to give compassionate, quality and quantitative healthcare to Nigerians,” he said.
Johnson Adewunmi , chairman of Mother and Child Hospital Ltd, also said that Mother& Child Limited had delivered consistently on providing the best hospital care package for the entire family as well as prudent management of cash.
In 2017, a Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey across the whole of Nigeria indicated that for every 100,000 pregnant women, 576 of them die at childbirth while that for Lagos is currently estimated at 555.
It was also estimated that for every 1,000 live births in Nigeria, 77 don’t live to make it to their first birthday while for Lagos, the figure is 45
ANTHONIA OBOKOH
