Stories by Doris Obinna
Barring any major setback or challenge, the Lagos State government has said the Epe Maternal and Childcare Centre (MCC) would be ready for use in two months.
Permanent secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Olusegun Ogboye, who disclosed during an inspection tour of the specialist facility recently, explained that the construction of the four-floor edifice has got to an advanced stage with just a few fittings left.
Said he: “The work on the facility is quite advanced. Most of the infrastructures are in place; we just need to put some fittings in, do some finalizations, tidy up everything, and I think it should be up and running in about two months.”
Expressing satisfaction at level of work done so far, Ogboye said the Epe MCC, like others that have been inaugurated during the present administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, is an improvement on the earlier ones consequent upon the lessons learnt for improved service delivery.
He noted that the Epe MCC had all alternatives of power supply, including electricity from the national grid, a dedicated generator, solar power and an inverter that would keep the facility up and running without power outage when opened.
“Definitely, we learn from each MCC that we have commissioned and one major thing we do is to give all the alternatives of power when we set up an MCC. For this MCC, we have electricity from the grid, a generator, solar power and then an inverter. This also goes for each of the new MCCs that are coming on stream.
“We are learning even how to distribute services and how to distribute space among the different departments, so, definitely, we are learning from each one and we are putting the learning into the next one we are doing,” the permanent secretary said.
Noting that the plan of the Sanwo-Olu administration was to have a maternal and child centre in every division of Lagos, Ogboye said the idea was to ensure that the state’s indices for maternal and child health improved, while women of child-bearing age and children had access to very good maternal and child healthcare that would ensure mothers and their babies were alive and well.
He added that the completion of the facility and commencement of operations would guarantee the safety of pregnant women in Epe and ensure that their antenatal and post-natal care needs were assured.
“I would like to use this opportunity to ask the Epe community to protect this asset. They should see it as their own and see the people working here as their family. So, help us take care of them and take care of the facility,” Ogboye said.
