The National Emergency Medical Service and Ambulance System (NEMSAS) project, in collaboration with the World Bank, aims to fill the gaps in accessing timely, affordable, and quality healthcare for pregnant women.
According to Adejoke Dada, representative of NEMSAS, the project will benefit 1.7 million pregnant women in 15 IMPACT Project states, including Ekiti. The initiative is championed by the Minister of Health, Prof Ali Pate, and is expected to commence in January 2025.
She said, “This programme is to help 1.7 million pregnant women to access affordable and qualitative emergency care so that these women in the rural areas do not die of childbirth anymore and also to ensure that our newborns too do not die of morbidity diseases that are associated with neonatal.
“This initiative is championed by the Minister of Health, Prof Ali Pate, that we should empower 15 states as the first batch so that the communities which have high mortality and morbidity rates could be assisted to access timely, affordable and adequate emergency care for the rural women and children under five and neonatal,” Dada said.
Dr Prosper Ahworegba, a resource person with NEMSAS, highlighted the alarming maternal and infant mortality rates in Nigeria, stating that while the UK has seven deaths per 100,000 live births, Nigeria has between 576 and 615 deaths per 100,000 live births. Ahworegba emphasized that the lack of access to healthcare and transportation are significant contributors to these high mortality rates.
“A lot of women die because of lack of access to healthcare when they are pregnant. The figures for maternal and infant mortality across Nigeria are very high.
“While the UK has just seven deaths per 100,000 live births, Nigeria has between 576 and 615 deaths per 100,000 live births. This is embarrassing. That is why the Federal Ministry of Health feels that we should help women in rural areas.
“A preponderance of those who die are in the rural areas and most of them die because they cannot access transportation to the nearest hospital that can take care of them. That is the essence of our presence here,” Ahworegba said.
In addition, she noted that to address these challenges, the World Bank will provide ambulances in different wards in the 15 beneficiary states. Although the ambulances will be provided free of charge, users will be required to pay a token fee to ensure sustainability.
The ambulances will serve 10,000 persons and will be stationed in wards to facilitate immediate transportation of pregnant women and children to primary healthcare centers and obstetrics and newborn centers, she assured.
“The ambulance will be in that ward so that if there is a need to move a child who is sick or a pregnant woman who requires extra care, that person will be moved immediately to the next comprehensive emergency obstetrics and newborn centre.
“We have 15 states for this IMPACT Project. We expect to help 1.7 million pregnant women in rural areas and save them from early deaths due to pregnancy-related causes,” the medical expert said.
The Executive Secretary of Ekiti State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Ayodele Seluwa, welcomed the initiative, stating that it will boost healthcare delivery in terms of access to care.
Seluwa emphasized that addressing transportation problems and ensuring access to healthcare will significantly reduce maternal and infant mortality rates.
“If that gap is filled, we will be able to reduce maternal mortality and infant mortality in most cases.
“With the right information, people will get to know about the ambulance service and the community has to be involved so that they own the system.
“They will have the numbers, they know where to call when the services will be available,” he said.
Read also:Ekiti Community Gets 500KVA Transformer after 14-Year of Darkness