By Suzan Edeh, Bauchi
The Bauchi State government in collaboration with SWAp Coordinating Office and Johns Hopkins Program for International Education in Gynecology and Obstetrics(Jhpieco) has organized a Health Facilities Assessment meeting to improve access to quality comprehensive emergency Obstetrics and Newborn Care services and reduce preventable maternal and Newborn deaths in the state.
Speaking in his welcome remark at the Public Health Conference hall, Ministry of Health, the State Commissioner of Health, Dr Sani Mohammed Dambam said that Facilities Assessment in states of the federation is a project of the federal government under the leadership of the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate which aims to stem the tide of maternal mortality in the country.
Reresented by the Chief Executive Officer of the Bauchi Hospital Management Board,Dr Sambo Muhammed Alkali, the Commissioner said that Nigeria has one of the worst indices of maternal mortality in the world, where the Northeast part of the country is the highest contributor of maternal mortality, adding that with proper implementation of the project in states of the federation, there will be a positive change.
“This meeting is very important, which is the presentation of assessment of facilities for the Comprehensive emergency Obstetrics and Newborn Care(CEmONC) activity.Sometimes back, we has a team from the federal ministry of health under the Sub-Coordinating office who were here, together with our members.They were here to inspect the health facilities, especially the secondary health facilities, where they made an assessment”
“So we are here to hear the outcome of that assessment in order for us to see how this laudable project will impact on this system.For a very long time, the secondary health facilities are underfunded, but with this intervention, we hope to see light at the end of the tunnel” he said
Also Speaking, the National Coordinator SWAp,
Dr. Muntaqa Umar-Sadiq represented by Dr Ashiru Adamu Abubakar, the States Engagement and Governance Lead
SWAp Coordination Office, stated that on the 12 of December 2023, President Tinubu signed a Health Renewal Compact between Federal Ministry of health, State governments and developmental partners in Abuja to enhance Nigeria’s health sector, which includes crashing down the high rate of maternal mortality amongst other priorities.
“One of the measures that will help us reduce the high rate of maternal mortality in the country is to have functional Secondary health facilities that will provide high quality comprehensive emergency Obstetrics and Newborn Care services.During the signing of the compact, the parties agreed to have at least one functional Secondary health facility per local government to strengthen the referral network system so that complications arising from Labour, pregnancy related problems and child birth will be managed at the local government level “
“At the time of the signing of the compact, we did not know the number of secondary health facilities we had in the country and how functional they are,but later on, through financing agreement, the Minister of Health made three disbursement indicators which is an important integral of that intervention”
“Three key disbursement indicators for secondary health facilities in Nigeria, focused on financial transparency and accountability, include: the percentage of facilities with up-to-date expenditure records, the percentage of facilities with validated recent expenditures, and the percentage of facilities recording appropriate dates, reasons, and amounts for expenditures. These indicators help track how allocated funds are being used and ensure proper financial management”he said
He said that it was important for the state to work towards ensuring that the secondary health facilities are ready as most of the cases of maternal mortality takes place there,adding that when the secondary health facilities are functional, it will help the state to gain access to more resources and incentives from the federal government .