The Akwa Ibom State branch of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has announced that it has developed new strategies to reduce the number of women and children dying during childbirth in the state.
Speaking during the 2025 Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference Dinner held in Uyo over the weekend, the Chairman of NMA in the state, Dr. Anìekan Peters, said the main focus of the event was to find ways to lower maternal and child death rates and also improve the welfare of medical doctors.
Dr. Peters said the meeting was themed “Securing the Future of Medical Practice in Nigeria: Prioritizing Welfare and Policy Reforms.”
It reviewed the number of women who die during childbirth and discussed the working conditions of doctors in both private and public hospitals.He explained that reducing maternal and child deaths was the top priority of this year’s meeting.
“We believe that no woman should die while giving life. That’s why we have started going around churches in the state to spread this important message,” he said.
He urged people to join the state’s health insurance scheme. He also informed them about the availability of ambulance services for pregnant women, especially for those needing to give birth at night or in emergencies. There are phone numbers they can call to get help.
Dr. Peters noted that many people in the state are not aware that such ambulance services exist for pregnant women.
He said doctors will continue to visit churches across the 31 local government areas of Akwa Ibom to educate women on how to use these services.
“We discovered that in many churches, people didn’t know about the ambulance service,” he said.
To fix this, the NMA has partnered with the state Ministry of Health to carry out awareness campaigns in all churches throughout the state.
He added that in the future, doctors living in each local government area will be sent to help with the awareness campaign.
Speaking about doctors’ welfare in the state, the NMA Chairman called on Governor Umo Eno to approve a 100% salary increase to motivate doctors to keep doing their jobs well.
He said that during former Governor Godswill Akpabio’s time, the state gave cars to medical doctors as incentives, but that is no longer the case.
“Akwa Ibom used to give cars to doctors when Akpabio was governor. We want Governor Umo Eno to bring back those kinds of benefits, especially now that he is in the same party as the Senate President,” he said.
Dr. Peters also urged the state government to set up a committee to review the salaries of doctors working at the Ibom Specialist Hospital. He warned that failure to act could lead to a strike.
He also mentioned St. Luke’s Hospital in Anua, which is managed by the Catholic Church. He said if the Church can no longer manage the hospital well, it should hand it over to the government.
