By Chioma Umeha
Ibafon Primary Health Care (PHC) Centre, Ajeromi
Ifelodun LGA in Lagos has joined the league of PHCs that has benefited from the
family planning (FP) project of Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative,
a nongovernmental organisation, popularly known as NURHI, on Monday.
The PHC can now boast of a basic standard family
planning (FP) unit after it was commissioned by the Hon. Fehintola Danmole-Akaba,
the Sole Administrator of Ajeromi Ifelodun Local Government Area.
While expressing his joy over the project, the
community leader – Baale – Kayode Okunlola was optimistic that the high rate of
maternal mortality as experienced in the local government would be a thing of
the past.
According to Okunlola, the project was a dream
come through. He said: “We have so many people who are not enlightened in our
community. If you look at majority of unfortunate things that happen during
child birth, Ajeromi Ifelodun records the highest in Lagos State. It is very
unfortunate but, with what happened here today, people will know when, how and
the gap they are to give before getting pregnant.
“So for this laudable programme, I believe that
these unfortunate deaths of pregnant women especially, during labour will
drastically reduce, that’s the happiness I have today.”
While commissioning the project, the Hon.
Danmole-Akaba lauded NURHI’s initiative and also appreciated the staff of
Ibafon PHC and community members who had helped in making the 72 hours project
a reality.
The Sole Administrator however pledged that the
infrastructure provided would be jealously guarded in terms of maintenance. She
also promised to always get the generating set ready for use in providing all
that are required.
“This PHC has been a kind a skeletal health
centre, but with this renovations, the whole story have changed. “You’ve come
in here and told us that in 72 hours these things can be achieved, we should
emulate you, especially when it comes to health issues, we should avoid
bureaucracy. We should do what is needed to protect people’s health and save
lives,” she said.
She therefore urged the people: “Let our people know
about this facility. If we have to do jingle, I am ready to support that, let’s
go round the community to do the jingle, let them know that we now have a
family planning unit here so that they can come make use of the facility and
meet the experts to counsel them on health matters.”
Addressing the public, Dr. Omasanjuwa Edun, the
Lagos State Team Leader of NURHI who noted that the project is in its second
phase, said the same project is going on in two other states in country.
“Essentially what we are trying to do is to
promote the use of family planning in the LGAs and communities that we work in.
To promote these services, we have to upgrade their facilities to the basic
standard required to provide the optimal quality of services to clients.
“Ibafon PHC is one of the 50 PHC in Lagos state
and this is the second phase of our renovation, first phase was done last year.
The ideal setting is that there must be privacy in the unit to ensure
confidentiality in delivering services, he said while pointing at the things
NURHI has been able to do in improving the PHC.
“Initially, there was no family planning unit in
this facility so we converted what used to be a store to family planning unit
that comprise counselling unit and procedure. Also, the state of the labour
room was also not conducive so we also did a little bit of work there as well.
We also had to take re-lay the tiles, repainted the waiting room and entire
clinic to give the facility a facelift.
“Basically, we do all of these in 72 hour. It is a
strategy not to disrupt the normal clinical activities in the facility and to
showcase to government that these things can be done without unnecessary due
process with little or minimal funding using community artisans,” he said.
While appreciating everybody, Medical Officer of
Health for Ajeromi PHC, Oteniya Naheem while appreciating NURHI pointed:
“Family planning is a programme we have been running all along, but because the
facility we have on ground is not so comprehensive so we have not given the
best to our client, they are not getting the maximum benefit of it, but with
what NURHI has done today, I will want each an everyone of us to appreciate
them.”
