The Kwara government initiates a 10-day intensive training for 60 healthcare professionals from all 16 local government areas in Omuaran.
The focus is on “Basic Emergency Obstetrics and Newborn Care.” The executive secretary of the Kwara State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Nusirat Elelu, highlights the significance of this training as a build-up from years of dedicated hard work.
According to her, the government’s commitment to enhancing healthcare services is reflected in increased investment in health infrastructure across the state.
“This year, the quality of healthcare services is central. The government has committed a lot of resources to improving health infrastructure across the state.”
“The next step is to increase and improve healthcare services across the 16 local government areas.
“The government of AbdulRahman Abdulrazaq is ready to give minimum training to improve the healthcare of mothers and infants,” said Elelu.
The executive secretary noted that 94,276 women were recorded to have attended antenatal care across the Primary Health Care (PHCs) centres in the state in 2020.
Adding that in 2023, a total of 422,631,000 women were recorded to have attended antenatal care in the PHCs, amounting to a huge increase, hence the need for commensurate services to cater for the rising number.
“The perception of healthcare workers is important and we are prepared to get participants of this training on board. And at the end of the training, they will be certified,” she said.
Elelu, therefore, urged the participants to take the training with all sense of responsibility to handle the over 400,000 mothers who accessed antenatal care in the state.
On his part, the Director of Primary HealthCare Services, Dr Micahel Oguntoye, said that Nigeria still carried a high burden of maternal and neonatal deaths, many of which were unregistered.
He, therefore, reiterated the need to change the narrative, adding that “this is possible if healthcare workers are given the necessary knowledge and know-how.”
The Lead Facilitator of the training, Prof. Adebayo Muhammad, said that the training would ensure that all participants improved their knowledge of emergency obstetrics and newborn care.
He added that the training would also equip healthcare workers with skills in essential obstetrics and newborn care, among others.
Muhammad, therefore, urged the participants to utilise the knowledge acquired to check maternal and newborn mortality in the state.
NAN
