By Blessing Idika
In an effort to reduce Maternal and Neonatal mortality, the Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf, has introduced free Caesarian Sections for pregnant women in the state.
The package also includes free maternity services and the distribution of welcome packages to newborns in public health facilities.
Yusuf made this known on the last day of a five-day workshop on the Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative in the state.
MAMII, a federal government project on reducing maternal mortality in Nigeria, was activated in Kano last week.
According to a statement signed by Ibrahim Abdullah,the Information Officer of the Kano State Ministry of Health, the project was a strategic plan to reduce maternal mortality through intensified intervention in 172 priority Local Government Areas across the six geopolitical zones, which Kano State emerged the highest with 18 LGAs.
At the workshop, the state governor, represented by the Commissioner for Health, Dr Abubakar Labaran, reassured the residents of his commitment to overcoming maternal and newborn mortality.
The governor further announced his approval of a monthly distribution of kits worth millions of naira free to pregnant women in over 60 health facilities and 63 primary healthcare centres across the state.
Yusuf added that the government has also introduced free caesarean sessions to pregnant women who develop complications during pregnancy to reduce maternal mortality.
He stated that the workshop has paved the way for the government to conduct research into finding out the root causes of maternal and newborn mortality in the 18 affected LGAs and the state.
The governor decried the rate of zero-dose immunisation and the high burden of diphtheria, stating that they contributed to the maternal mortality rate in the state.
While further lamenting that only 30 per cent of women in Kano State deliver in the hospitals, the governor noted that this was another factor contributing to the high Maternal Mortality Rate and called on pregnant women to register for their antenatal and deliver at hospitals.
