Kaduna declares obstetric services, delivery, surgery free for pregnant women

 
Kaduna state Commissioner for Health, Dr Amina Mohammed Baloni, has declared in Kaduna that all obstetric services (ANC), delivery and surgical intervention for pregnant women are free.


Speaking during high level conference on Obstetric Fistula organised by Kaduna state government, Fifth Chukker Polo and Country Club in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on Thursday, Amina said pregnancy is not a disease but unfortunately some of the pregnancies end up in a predicament leading to the death of the women or complication such as obstetric fistula if the woman survives.


The Commissioner, who explained that the administration of Governor Nasir el-Rufai considers preventing obstetric fistula a high priority, lamented that the society has not been fair to fistula survivors who were often sent back home by their husbands or even divorced.
She said the take-off of the state supported social insurance was to ensure equity in service provision to the people of Kaduna state.


According to her, government is working assiduously to improve the quality of services at health facilities by recruiting technical and supporting health workers to fill in the existing gap, supplying necessary equipment and providing regular supportive supervision to ensure standard of service provision.


One of the Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF) survivors, who did not want her name mentioned, shared her experience in tears  while thanking the wife of Kaduna state Governor, Hajiya Ummi el-Rufai for leading the war against VVF in the state, just as she decried the stigmatization and rejection by friends and even her relatives.
On her part, Hajiya Ummi el-Rufai, who was crowned ambassador of fistula as an encouragement to her to tackle VVF menace, said she will not relent until fistula is eliminated in the state, calling on wealthy individuals, corporate organisations, among others to support VVF survivors. 

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