MOTHER AND CHILD HOSPITAL

Poverty, illiteracy, poor nutrition and sanitation with ineffectual leadership and corruption of the leaders contributed to delays in seeking, accessing, reaching and referring care which leads to death but thanks to Dr Olusegun Mimiko's Mother and Child Hospital model, it is all now a thing of the past. The hospitals which have been described as model facilities by UNICEF and World Bank have led to a nation wide increase in safe deliveries.

The Mother and Child Hospital is a distinct hospital, different from the typical public hospitals. It is a referral center designed to handle emergencies. The premier hospital is located at Oke-Aro Akure, while three others are coming up in the three senatorial districts of the State.


Although originally conceived as the apex of the now famous Abiye (Safe Motherhood) Programme, it has since taken a life of its own, attracting patients beyond its’ base and beyond the state. More importantly, it has reduced maternal and child mortalities much faster, and at rates higher, than comparable facilities in Nigeria and beyond. And it has been able to record these achievements by maximizing costs and the utilization of resources. Today, the MCHA is a tourist attraction, in addition to being a pregnant mother’s dream hospital.

ABOUT MCHA

The MCHA was designed, equipped, and staffed precisely to achieve this objective.



The main hospital building is a sprawling, comprehensive, and integrated facility, housingante-natal, labour, post-natal, neo-natal, and paediatrics wards. In addition, there are an out-patient clinic and a casualty room. Strategically located around these units include an intensive care unit; anaesthesia unit; operating theatre; pharmacy; a blood bank; laboratory; radiology; and a dietetics department. There are also service units, including general administration, accounts, internal audit, stores, transport, tailoring and laundry, and maintenance departments

By September 4, 2011, 12,963 pregnant women and 16,877 children (3,611 as paediatric inpatients) had been registered and treated. 6,952 safe deliveries had been conducted, 1,196 by caesarean section. With an average of 20 to 25 deliveries daily, the MCHA is now the busiest maternity centre in Ondo State and one of the busiest in the country. Twenty per cent of patients are non-residents of the state, a testimonial to the hospital’s increasing popularity and its safety perception index.

All these are in fulfillment to the promise of Dr Olusegun Mimiko on his inauguration to bring qualitative and affordable health care facilities to the door steps of the people. Having worked as a Medical Officer and served twice as Commissioner for Health, this can only be the begining of aiding the critical sectors of the system and evolve a strategy for saving mothers and children from unnecessary deaths.