By Karen James




The Chief Executive Officer, Immaculate Heart Multi Specialty Hospital (IHMSH), Aguleri, Rev. Fr. Vincent Mbanogu has urged pregnant mothers to deliver their babies at functional health facilities.

This, he said would aim at reducing maternal and child mortality rate.

Fr. Mbanogu said this during an interaction with health correspondents in his office at IHMSH, Aguleri, Anambra East Local Government Area (LGA).

He decried the attitude of some pregnant mothers, who usually attend antenatal care at IHMSH but end up patronising the traditional birth attendants during delivery periods.

It hurts me when I see our young women lose their lives due to carelessness

Majority of them prefer going to the traditional birth attendants to be delivered of their babies only to come to the hospital when they have little chance of survival.

``Unfortunately, some of these ladies lose their babies after nine months for patronising traditional birth attendants.

``Those children may have ended up being Rev fathers, teachers, doctors and so on,’’ Fr. Mbanogu lamented.

The CEO listed some measures that the hospital had taken to stem pregnant women from being delivered of their babies by traditional birth attendants.

According to him I make their charges affordable, routine check up for pregnant mothers cost little amount of money, and routine drugs cost N120.

He noted that he gives out incentives like transport fares to motivate those that could not afford it, biscuits and devotional articles to Catholics, who attend antenatal.

He advised everyone not to dwell on any cultural imprisonment but access healthcare at good hospitals in good time rather than waiting for a long time.

Fr Mbanogu cited an example with a boy of 12 that had a hip fracture and was taken to a herbalist by his parents, where he stayed for months before he was brought to the hospital.

``The boy was messed up by the herbalist as he could not work and our consultant told me that the parents could not afford the cost for treatment because the condition was too bad.

I could not hold back my tears seeing this boy being bedridden for life, so I looked for help, and today the boy has started to walk.

I was ready to sell off my car to see that this boy survived the fracture.

He stressed that the problem could have been averted if the boy was brought to the hospital in time, adding that so much resources had been wasted and the young boy’s future could have been truncated.

Fr Mbanogu thanked the state government for the efforts to transform the hospital to a multi specialist and referral hospital, assuring of his optimal commitment to run the facility.

He also expressed happiness over the quality of all the equipment earlier supplied to the hospital while pleading for more and provision of ambulances and more bed spaces for emergencies, especially during festive periods.

Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of General Hospital, Mrs Nwamaka Arinze Okoh, who was on her routine monthly supervision thanked the CEO for the good work he was doing in saving people’s lives.

She urged him to continue rendering selfless services and also making sure that the hospital was well managed.

The SSA thanked the priest for having it as an additional responsibility to sensitise the host community on the need to access healthcare services in the facility.

Mrs Arinze Okoh used the opportunity to address no fewer than 30 pregnant mothers that came for antenatal care, emphasising the need for mothers to space their child birth for the health of their unborn children.

She enjoined them to ensure they deliver at functional hospitals to avoid loss of their lives and those of their babies too.