Gov. Willie Obiano of Anambra on Tuesday inaugurated the Mother and Child Referral Centre sited within the premises Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital (COOUTH).
The Mother and Child Referral Centre was a state of the art Pregnancy care, delivery and care of the newborn facility funded by Star Deep Water Petroleum Ltd (a Chevron company).
Obiano also inaugurated a Dialysis Centre, Imaging and CT-Scan laboratory all in the institution.
He said the facilities were part of his administration’s effort at enhancing public health infrastructure while appreciating Chevron for building the facility in the state.
The governor encouraged workers and the entire residents of Anambra to embrace the Anambra State Health Insurance Scheme to aid their access to enjoying medical care they would ordinarily not afford.
Obiano said wealthy members of the state should enrol as much indigent and old people as they could so that with the as low as N12, 000 premium they could enjoy health services of as much as N5 million.
In his speech, Dr Josephat Akabuike, Chief Medical Director of COOUTH said maternal mortality in Nigeria is high and unacceptable 814 per 100,000 live births compared to the USA which had 17 per 100,000 live births.
Akabuike described the Mother and Child Referral Center as a state of the art ‘hospital complex’ fully equipped with a theater, Laboratory, Pharmacy.
According to him, by this Nigeria maternal mortality rate translates to death of one woman every minute during the process of childbirth.
“This boils down to the fact that most causes of maternal deaths are preventable.
“This clarion call to make pregnancy and delivery safe, and to protect the lives of newborns was exactly what Chevron Company and their partners have done for women and Children in Anambra.
“The hospital will remain grateful to the company and promise that the facility will be fully utilized to serve its purpose,” he said.
Dr Chimuanya Igboekwe, World Health Organisation Coordinator in Anambra said health care was a public good which every government must provide for its citizens.
