Doris Obinna, Lagos
The Mothers And Marginalised Advocacy Centre (MAMA) has called for increase coordination in the administration and delivery of healthcare with enhanced policy support for female enrollments at health institution levels.
Commemorating the World Health Day with the theme “Year of the Nurse and Midwife,” the centre commended the bravery and genuine dedication of nurses and midwives in making the world a safer and healthier place.
In a statement signed by the executive director, Ola Onyegbula, she said: “We acknowledge their doggedness and perseverance in a moment of global health emergency, most especially in combating the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, which has rendered many nations, states and streets inaccessible.
“We recognise the commendable due diligence and high-level professionalism upheld by nurses and midwives in giving hopes to the hopeless while performing their duties as the frontline soldiers in the health sector.
“In the spirit of commendations, we are not unaware of weak administrative support, continued gender disparity, abuses, poor incentives, lack of encouragement and misplaced priorities that dominate Nigeria’s health sector which to large extent backpedal effort and efficiency of the nurses, midwives and other healthcare professionals in the delivery of adequate and qualitative health care services in the country.”
She said: “The centre is concerned that this aforementioned opacity remains a common and true situation of healthcare system across the six geo-political zones in the country, where adequate, accessible and affordable health care services are out of reach in both rural and urban areas.
“Giving the intensity of the COVID-19, we are equally worried that our nation’s healthcare system is bedevilled by low maintenance culture, inadequate accessibility to facilities and services, ill-equipped and poor infrastructural services and human resource gaps.
“These challenges exacerbate maternal and child mortality and morbidity in the country, while frustrating efforts of the nurses and midwives in saving lives.”
While calling for increased support and encouragement through appropriate incentives, training and retraining programmes, and remunerations to the nurses and midwives as frontline soldiers in the delivery of various levels care in the country, she called for “increased budgetary allocation, timely releases and cash-backing to promote adequate, accessible and affordable healthcare system in the country.”