For
seven years he has ruled well as state governor of Delta State. So his
supporters say. His adversaries think he is yet to satisfactorily discharged
his mandate that would soon be wrapped up even with the huge revenue that have
accrued to the state over the last seven years from the federation account in
addition to the internally generated revenue.
To
convince doubting political Thomases, he has achieved two significant milestones
in his traditional field of medical sciences, all believed to be targeted at
improving the healthcare of his people. The first was when the governor, a
medical doctor took part in the first of its kind open heart surgery at the
state owned university teaching hospital earlier in the year and he has now
followed it up with the commissioning of a model medical facility meant to
improve maternal healthcare.
The
good news is that the Delta State Government on Thursday gave a boost to its
Free Maternal and Child Care Programme with the Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan
commissioning a new 100-bed Maternal and Child Care Centre at the Warri Central
Hospital.
Governor
Uduaghan, who also inaugurated the Delta State Ambulance Service at the
occasion, charged women to embark on family planning and promptly register for
antenatal care whenever they are pregnant.
Uduaghan
explained that the Government's free maternal and child care schemes were borne
out of the high premium it places on the health of women and children.
"Our
unflinching resolve to protect the lives and health of our women and children
led to the establishment of the Free Maternal Healthcare Programme in 2007 and
Free Under-Five Healthcare in 2010.
"These
programmes have helped to ensure that all pregnant women in Delta State can
access free healthcare throughout the period of pregnancy, delivery and
afterwards while our children, below the age of five years, are guaranteed free
medical treatment in all public health facilities.
"With
these two programmes, we have greatly reduced the risk of injury and death in
women from pregnancy related causes and in children, from diseases. Our
steadily declining maternal mortality and under-five mortality rates are
attestation to these facts.
"These
achievements further spurred us to improve on our successes given our belief
that no woman has to die neither because she is pregnant nor should any child
die owing to preventable and treatable diseases.”
According
to him, "This dream, fuelled and sustained by the passion to further
protect lives of women and children, has led to the establishment of this
ultra-modern edifice we now call the Maternal and Child Care Centre.
"This
modern health facility is equipped with state of the art medical equipment and
staffed with commensurate quality of manpower that can provide tertiary level
maternal and child healthcare.
"With
this new centre, we would be better positioned to achieve the MDGs as related
to maternal and child care by the year 2015."
Addressing
pregnant women at the occasion, Governor Uduaghan advised women to embark on
family planning and space their births to guarantee their health and those of
their babies.
He
also charged women to promptly register for their antenatal care whenever they
are pregnant and go to the hospital for their deliveries and stop patronising
quack birth attendants.
Uduaghan
while also inaugurating the state's ambulance service, explained, "the
increasing carnage on our highways due to road traffic accidents is the driving
force for the creation of this ambulance service...The Delta State Ambulance
Service is therefore aimed at the reduction of overall morbidity and mortality
in Delta State."
14/2/2014
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