Reps seek free medicare for pregnant women

Reps seek free medicare for pregnant women

Video: IDRC/CRDI

The House of Representatives has urged the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to mandate public healthcare institutions to provide free medical treatment for pregnant women during and after delivery.

The call was sequel to the adoption of a motion by Rep. Mohammed Shehu (PDP-Bauchi) at plenary on Wednesday.

They also urged the ministry to implement routine checks to ensure continuity, compliance by medical personnel, and sustainability of childbirth processes.

Moving the motion, Shehu said that the government established public healthcare institutions to provide medical services to humanity.

He added that drugs were supplied to the institutions and equipped with modern medical facilities and charged with the responsibility of handling healthcare-related matters.

Shehu said though healthcare services were not restricted to pregnant women, efforts to encourage free treatment for expectant mothers have not been fully realised.

He said that giving the fertility statistics in the country, there was need for free medical treatment for pregnant women to boost the country’s fertility rate.

“Nigeria is grappling with high disease rates, resulting in an annual maternal mortality rate of expectant mothers and children due to pregnancy complications and the polio virus.

“Further aware that government requires public healthcare institutions to have medical professionals, give adequate attention to patients, including pregnant women, during childbirth to address complications and find permanent solutions.

“There is a need for the government to prioritise policy actions aimed at improving healthcare delivery systems, particularly for pregnant women, to alleviate their hardships and boost their confidence,” he said.

In his ruling, the Deputy Speaker, Rep. Benjamin Kalu mandated the Committee on Healthcare Services and Healthcare Institutions to liaise with the Minister of Health and Social Welfare to ensure compliance.

The committee is to report back within four weeks for further legislative action. (NAN)

About author

You might also like

African leaders support new routine immunisation declaration revamp

African Heads of State have endorsed a declaration on “Building momentum for routine immunization recovery in Africa” intending to revitalize the momentum for all populations to have universal access to

NEWS 0 Comments

Nigeria hosts Lassa Fever International Conference

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and its partners will host the first Lassa Fever International Conference between 16th and 17th of January 2019 in Abuja. This is to mark

Merck, Pfizer, Syndax Collaborate to evaluate combination drug for ovarian cancer

Multinational pharmaceutical companies, Merck, Pfizer and Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc. have entered into a collaboration agreement to evaluate avelumab, an investigational fully human anti-PD-L1 IgG1 monoclonal antibody, in combination with Syndax’s

0 Comments

No Comments Yet!

You can be first to comment this post!

Leave a Reply