FCT Minister Begs Doctors To Shelve Planned Strike

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Muhammad Bello, has appealed to medical doctors to shelve their planned strike.

Muhammad made the call when a delegation of the Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria (SOGON) visited him.

He noted that the vulnerable members of the society including women would be most affected by the industrial action.

Bello reiterated the commitment of the FCT Administration to the development of primary healthcare centres in the territory.

He said that in its efforts to improve services at the primary Healthcare level, the FCTA recently employed 203 volunteer midwives and community health extension workers.

He called on the society to work closely with the Health and Human Services Secretariat and the Office of the Minister of State for the sustained provision of maternal healthcare services to women in the territory.

Earlier, President of the Society, Prof. Oluwarotimi Akinola, commended the FCT Administration on the decline of maternal mortality rate in the territory.

He said that the society introduced the Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response (MPDSR) in six health facilities of the FCT.

According to him, MPDSR is a critical approach for improving quality of care for maternal and neonatal health.

These include Nyanya , Bwari and Kwali General Hospitals and the Primary Healthcare centers at Kwali, Gbadalape and Kogo.

He added that the implementation of the MPDSR project in these areas had reduced the maternal mortality ratio in the FCT to below the national average.

”In Bwari Area Council, the maternal mortality ratio was reduced from 504/100,000 in 2014 to 468/100,000 in 2019.

”While maternal mortality was reduced from 317/100,000 in 2014 to 221/100,000 in 2019 in Nyanya, while the figures dropped in Kwali Area Council from 329/100,000 in 2014 to 268/100,000 in 2019,” he said.

He revealed that the national average in 2008, 2013 and 2018 were 545/100,000, 576/100,000 and 512/100,000 respectively.

Akinola also commended the FCTA for the establishment of a budget line for the MPDSR programmes in the FCT, adding that the FCT was the first state in the country to do so.

He said that the MPDSR project in the FCT had increased consciousness and accountability of health workers as they have become more conscious on issues relating to maternal and perinatal deaths.