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By Stephen Adeleye.
An NGO, Tiny Beating Hearts Initiative (TBHI), has donated an incubator, medical equipment and consumables worth about N3 million to Kogi Specialist Hospital (KSSH) Lokoja.
The Founder/Executive Director of the NGO, Mrs Petra Onyegbule, disclosed this while handing over the items to the Management of the hospital in Lokoja.
Onyegbule said the initiative was borne out of a traumatic experience she encountered as a preterm mother, and her passion to ensure that every premature baby is given a chance to survive and live healthy.
“The most traumatic experience I have had in life was when I gave birth to a preterm baby at 25 weeks of pregnancy in 2009. I almost ran away when I first saw my baby because she didn’t look like a baby”
“But with the strong support of my spouse, I promised myself that if my baby survived, I would let the world know that every child could survive if given a fair chance.
“Today, my baby is alive and living a healthy life, every preemie deserves that,” she said.
According to her, Nigeria is ranked the second highest country behind India with premature-related births globally, hence the launch of TBHI’s advocacy project aimed at reducing preterm-related issues in Nigeria.
Onyegbule, who is also the Chief Press Secretary to Gov. Yahaya Bello, said that her NGO had paid medical bills of preemies and donated relief materials to affected families in Kogi, Lagos, Plateau and other states, as well as monitored the upbringing of such preemies.
As well as engaging in various advocacy targeted at creating mass enlightenment and awareness geared towards prevention of prematurity.
She stressed the need for individuals, corporate organisations, religious bodies and relevant stakeholders to collaborate with government to reduce neonatal mortality and morbidity by harnessing available resources to help preemies in the state.
“Quality healthcare delivery should be made available and affordable for low income pregnant women and their babies to enable them access treatment in a conducive environment at little cost.
“Our society has been bedeviled with lots of inadequacies especially the health sector. It is an issue that affects everyone; we all have a role to play.
“All of us must do our bit, we want people to know that it is do-able, achieveable and practicable; with about N3 million, we have been able to put all these items together.
“We will continue to play a major role of supporting families that go through these horrendous experiences to ensure their mental well being. Preemies are rubies,” Onyegbule said.
Dr Ahmed Attah, the Special Adviser on Health to Gov. Yahaya Bello, commended TBHI for the initiative, saying the health sector remains the second top priority in the New Direction Blueprint of this Administration.
According to Attah, funding of the health sector including the welfare of health workers is very critical, and relevant stakeholders must take ownership of the sector because government cannot do it alone.
“We will continue to mobilise resources within and outside the government to continue to tidy up areas of critical issues one at a time, and we will surely get there,” Attah said.
Dr Usman Zakari, the Chief Medical Director, Kogi State Hospital Management Board, also commended the NGO for the intiative, saying government had recently employed about 2000 health workers for effective healthcare delivery.
Zakari added that the Board had set up a Community Relation Committee, saddled with resposibility to engaging the communities to take ownership of public hospitals in their domain through active participation.
Receiving the equipment on behalf of the hospital, Dr Wada Omale, the Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, KSSH, thanked the NGO for the gesture, saying the items would be judiciously used for the targeted beneficiaries.
He urged individuals, private and public organisation to take ownership of the health sector, saying that the partnership would help to reduce maternal, child mortality and morbidity rate in the state.
A conference with the theme: “Strengthening Kogi State Healthcare System For Effective Service Delivery To Pregnant Women & Neonates,” featured extensive discussions from stakeholders after a Situation Analysis by Dr Ashraff Abdulhakeem, O & G Dept. KSSH.
Some of the equipment donated are one digital incubator, 2 stethoscope, 2 pulse oximeter, diapers, infrared thermometer, olive oil, cannula, 2 ml syringes, 2 paediatric ambu bags, soluset, plaster, hand sanitizer, other medical consumables, and fixing of three non functional Phototherapy Units.
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