MIMIKO INAUGURATES NEW MOTHER & CHILD HOSPITAL TODAY

THE Ondo State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, will today inaugurate a new Mother and Child hospital outside the state capital, as he consolidates on the gains of his Abiye safe motherhood programme, which has been benchmarked for the African continent as a sure strategy to  reduce maternal and new born deaths.

The new hospital, which is located in Ondo town, is sequel to the success of the Mother and Child hospital in Akure. The state government has replicated same in Ondo in line with Governor Mimiko’s promise to establish same in each senatorial district in the state.

The new facility in Ondo has the in-patient, outpatient, critical and administrative wings. The hospital has 100-bed capacity and it offers integrated services with in-built laboratory services and a pharmacy in the same building.

Equipped with the state-of-the-art equipment, the hospital is located within the Ondo Medical Village in Laje area of the town.

The village also accommodates the Gani Fawehinmi Diagnostic and Trauma Centre, Rapid Response Information Centre for accident victims, as well as a morgue.

 The World Bank declaration that Ondo state, prior to the advent of Dr. Olusegun Mimiko’s administration, had the worst maternal and child health indices in the south-west  zone of Nigeria  warranted the new regime to undertake an urgent reform of the dysfunctional health system, hence its Abiye project, with the pilot  launched in October,2009 in Ifedore LGA to bring qualitative and effective health care to women and children.

The revised goals are to reduce maternal and child mortality by at least 50 per cent and increase facility utilisation by at least 60 per cent, all by the end of 2012.
In line with the Safe motherhood goal, the Mother and Child Hospital, Akure  was established to address the phases of delay contributing to maternal and child deaths in Ondo state and factors militating against achieving the Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5.

It was commissioned to mark the first year anniversary of the Mimiko administration on the 27th of February 2010, as the premier purpose-built state-of-the-art 100-bed facility dedicated to the care of pregnant women and children less than 5 years of age, offering tertiary level health services free of charge.

The commissioning on Friday, of the Ondo Mother and child hospital is expected to further consolidate on the gains already recorded with the Akure hospital.

Some of the gains include managing and discharging routine post-vaginal delivery patients within 24 hours and post-caesarean section patients within 48 hours without compromising on quality of care, thereby reducing cost of care and work load per patient, and increasing patient turnover by more than 100%, simultaneously.

The Mother and Child hospital has also allowed for the development of  a confidential enquiry format of reporting and recording maternal and child deaths with emphasis on avoidable factors, missed opportunities and levels of substandard care among others.