The Oyo State government, on Friday, received medical equipment comprising 60 antenatal and postnatal treatment equipment as donations from the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET), Oyo State branch and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Seyi Makinde, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, indicated that the state’s Commissioner for Health, Dr Bashir Bello, who received the equipment from the two organisations on behalf of the state government at the Ministry of Health, Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan, expressed gratitude to the donors.
He also commended the partners for paying attention to the development of manpower in the health sector.
The statement quoted the Commissioner as stating that the Oyo State government would continue to do the needful to ensure that pregnant women enjoy comprehensive health care during pregnancy and beyond.
He said: “On behalf of the entire Ministry of Health, the Hospitals Management Board and the Primary Health Care Board, we are grateful for your generosity and donations, particularly on capacity building for health workers.
“We assure you that we will make judicious use of the equipment and our health workers would continue to live up to expectations in both antenatal and post-natal health care delivery across the facilities.
“Also, we will continue to ensure that both the mothers and children are in good condition.”
In his remarks, the Executive Secretary, Oyo State Primary Health Care Board, Dr. Muideen Olatunji, appreciated the partners for the gesture, noting that the support would further assist in reducing the cases of maternal mortality to the barest minimum.
Speaking earlier, Dr. Aduke Ogundun of the African Field Epidemiology Network, said that AFENET and LSTM embarked on the project to improve the quality of care to pregnant women and children in Oyo State.
She said: “60 facilities were selected in the state from all levels of care; primary, secondary and tertiary facilities. We actually built the capacities of 320 health workers in the state across all the categories. We are having training on competency-based for ANC, PNC presently at Kakanfo Inn, Ring Road, Ibadan.
“We conducted a baseline survey in the 60 selected facilities to identify gaps that are hindering the quality of care to pregnant women and children in the state. Having done the survey and identified the gaps, part of the strategies is to provide essential equipment for ANC and PNC services in the state so as to improve the quality of care to pregnant women and children.
“Each of the equipment will be distributed to the sixty facilities. As from next week, we will go out and distribute each of these items. Among the items are adult weighing scales, baby weighing scales, filter dopers and two infrared thermometers for each of the 60 selected facilities in the state.”
