Enugu govt vows to drastically reduce maternal, infant mortality rate 

Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has pledged his administration’s commitment to reducing maternal and infant mortality in the state.

He expressed displeasure with the high rate of maternal and infant mortality in the state and noted that strategic programmes must be put in place to curb the trend, through a collective effort.

The governor made this known while declaring open a Five-Day ‘Train the Trainers for Doctors/ Nurses on Maternal and New Born Care’ organised by the state Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Enugu.

Mbah, who was represented by his Deputy, Ifeanyi Ossai, lauded the immediate past deputy governor of  Enugu state, Mrs. Cecilia Ezeilo for her efforts in attracting the Latter Day Saints Church to partner with Enugu state government in the development of various sectors in the state.

He revealed that Ezeilo informed him of the church’s interventions in the areas of health, education, sinking of boreholes and other interventions..

Mbah assured that his administration would continue with the good works of the immediate past administration led by Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.

“We must deal with this problem and eradicate it and as a government, we are working with strategic partners to ensure that every person in Enugu state will be covered by the health insurance scheme.”

He said that tools are needed and that when the tools are available, there will be a need for personnel to operate them, hence, the essence of the training.

“We are dealing with the problem by reviewing what has happened in the past and we are trying to build on the success of the past government.

“The government in Nigeria, in the past 20-25 years, approached developments in a particular way but we will do things differently,” Mbah said.

He underscored the importance of the training, noting that the participants should be the medical personnel who had direct contact with the patients and not those in administration.

“If we must succeed, we must get the right approach. The training of this nature should have the participation of people who are the actual healthcare providers of our citizens,” he added.

The governor directed the Ministry of Health to immediately enlist medical doctors and nurses to be part of the training, pointing out that they were the people who treated the patients.

”You cannot restrict such training to directors in the ministry and chief medical directors who run the administration of hospitals. We need people who deal with our patients, so they can get the training,’ Mbah said.

He equally noted that participants are people who can train others and also use the training for their operations.

“It cannot be business as usual. Our approach in government is to be direct, to save cost, but above all, to have an impact in whatever decisions we have made,” he added.

He thanked the church for the support and urged them to sustain what they had for the state, promising that the Enugu state government would continue to partner with them to build a stronger relationship.

Earlier, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Dr. Chidi Udechi, said the Church through its charity arm had partnered Enugu state government for more than six years.

He revealed that they worked with Ezeilo and had renovated over 15 health centres and provided over 25 boreholes.

Dr. Udechi thanked the governor for sustaining the Enugu state government’s partnership with the church and expressed confidence that the programme would help in reducing the rate of maternal and infant mortality in the state.

(NAN)