By Victor Christopher
The Kano State government has alleged that some of its health workers are stealing the free drugs and essential consumables that are meant to complement its free maternal care policy in the state.
This State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Abubakar Labaran Yusuf, disclosed this on Thursday at a one-day workshop on advancing women’s health in Kano State: leveraging government policies and community engagement.
Grassroots Parrot reports that the workshop, as part of activities of the Strengthening Multi-Level Partnership for Advancing Women’s Health project in Kano, was organized by the Center for Communication and Social Impact (CCSI) and Pathfinder International.
Dr. Labaran lamented that the health workers are conniving with beneficiaries of the free drug program to perpetuate the act, stressing that the move is sabotaging the state government’s commitment on free healthcare delivery.
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According to him, “A lot of people, both the workers and the beneficiaries of the program (free drugs in Kano), connive to steal the drugs, which is a sort of depriving person who really needs the drugs from getting the services.
“This is one of the problems that we are addressing, and we have succeeded greatly, but still there are some pockets of thefts in facilities.”
The commissioner, however, noted that the state government has taken measures to address the problem.
“We have adopted an electronic medical record (EMR) to address this problem. By doing this, we will have the records and access to all the patients who are benefiting from the drugs. This will help us to easily track the beneficiaries,” he said.
Dr. Labaran also said some women in the state continued to suffer from excessive bleeding after childbirth due to the refusal of about seventy percent of them to attend antenatal services.
“This administration revived the free maternal and child health program to address these avoidable deaths, but only 30 percent of the women attend the free antenatal services. You only see them during complicated labor.” He said.
The commissioner added that the state government had embarked on statewide renovation of all facilities and employment of health workers to make them more convenient and conducive for deliveries.
Also speaking at the occasion, Prof. Baba Maiyaki Musa, who presented a paper on the new Maternal and New Born Health MNH Innovations in Nigeria, said postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is the leading cause of maternal mortality worldwide and Kano in particular.
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Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is severe vaginal bleeding after childbirth. PPH can occur after delivery or up to 12 weeks postpartum.
Prof. Baba identified the delayed diagnosis, missed treatment, and delayed escalation of refractory PPH as some of the major challenges.
He also expressed dismay over maternal mortality in the state and revealed that 70 percent of deliveries occur outside the facilities.
He said one of the leading causes of home deliveries in the state is the nonchalant attitude of some healthcare workers. To address this, Prof. Baba said health workers must make the services accessible and treat their patients as customers.
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On her part, Dr. Umma Abubakar Isah, Coordinator of Family Planning and Reproductive Health at the state ministry of health, harped on the timely release of funds for reproductive healthcare.
In his earlier remarks, the Senior Technical Advisor, CCSI, Oluyemi Abodunrin, said the project was aimed at interrogating Kano State policy on women’s health, its effectiveness, and seeking ways of improvement so as to better the health of women and girls in the state.