Obinna Odogwu, Abakaliki
The Rotary International, through the Rotarian Action for Population and Development (RAPD), has commenced the rehabilitation of five secondary hospitals in different locations in Ebonyi State.
The hospitals are Mile 4 Hospital, Abakaliki; Presbyterian Joint Hospital, Uburu; General Hospital, Ezzamgbo; General Hospital, Ikwo; and General Hospital; Itim Ukwu.
This was disclosed, on Wednesday, by the Area Coordinator, Africa/Treasurer, Rotarian Action for Population and Development, Prof. Adedolapo Lufadeju, when he paid a courtesy call to the state’s Commissioner for Health, Dr. Daniel Umezurike.
He said that organisation would soon more 15 hospitals to the list to make a total of 19; adding that already, statisticians have been trained to pilot the Maternal and Prenatal Death Surveillance and Response (MPDSR) policy approved by the federal government.
“The Rotary International through the Rotarian Action for Population and Development is working in five secondary hospitals in Ebonyi State and we want to cover all the secondary hospitals in Ebonyi State; 19 of them. So we have to work on the remaining 14.
“What do we do there? Essentially, we are doing quality assurance in obstetrics. Quality assurance means how is the structure of the hospital?
“We have to improve the quality of the structure, provide light, water, bed, renovate the building, and paint the building.
“And then, there quality of the process. How does it take a woman to move from her village to deliver in the hospital? Does she end up sitting in the corridor or delivering on the roadside?
“You know about the three delays. The delays from home; the delay when you’re transported to the hospital; and the delay when you get to the hospital when you have labour.
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“We want to remove these delays. We want a woman to be delivered of their baby within a few minutes after she reached the hospital.
“The outcome of pregnancy is very important to us. We want all our pregnancies to result in life births; we don’t want still births; we don’t want incomplete abortion. So, that is what I call quality assurance in obstetrics guiding against all these things.
“The Federal Government has established policy Maternal and Prenatal Death Surveillance and Response (MPDSR).
“We have taken the guidelines of this MPDSR to develop and electronic platform where we can collect all these important data relating to mothers and children through the process of childbirth.
“Now, that electronic platform is so robust that the record officers in the hospitals can collect the data on his phone and send it to the state where we have trained a statistician.
“And when the statistician presses another button on his phone, it gets to the appropriate desk”, he said.