By Vincent Ekhoragbon, Gombe
The continued implementation of free Antenatal care and treatment programme for all pregnant women and children under the age of five has been suspended by Gombe state government, notwithstanding the high maternal and children mortality rate in the northeast sub-region which Gombe state a part of.
Residents have in turn expressed dismay over the decision which they described as insensitive to the plight of the ordinary citizens of the state.
“Government said antenatal and postnatal care is free but I took my wife to the Specialist Hospital for child delivery recently and paid for virtually everything.
“Only a few of the small, small drugs that cost next to nothing were available,” said a colleague who did not want his name in print.
Reacting, the Director, Gombe State Hospital Services, Dr. James Mahdi said the state had in place a free antenatal care programme for all women who are pregnant but had been laid aside for about a year running due to paucity of funds.
“Once a woman is positively pregnant to the time she delivered, it (antenatal care) is meant to be free of charge.
“But because of the economic recession in the country, we are not able to access it (free antenatal services) for sometimes,” Dr. Mahdi explained.
He said even situations where approvals have been received to fund the services, the non-releases of the funds in good time affect also the programme.
“So it is a positive thing if funding can be access and then it can be continued,” he said, adding that free services had been suspended for about a year now.
He also admitted the high maternal and children mortality rate in the state, saying there was the need to address it with a lot of determination in order to bring it down because is quite unacceptable as it is.
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