By Rita Michael
Bauchi
Stakeholders have expressed worry over lack of functional blood banks in secondary health facilities in Bauchi State.
They charged the state government to to equip 10 more secondary health facilities with functional blood banks in the three senatorial zones to complement the existing eight, saying, “This will help save lives of mothers and newborn because presently, Bauchi South and North have three blood banks each while Bauchi Central has only two blood banks”.
The charge was made during a two-day workshop organized by Bauchi State Accountability Mechanism for Maternal and Newborn Health (BASAM) with support from Mamaye Evidence for Action, a UK-sponsored project.
The stakeholders who comprise of Civil Society Organisations, health personnel and media practitioners lamented that women have been dying due to excessive bleeding, while expressing optimism that the blood banks if provided would save lives.
It was also observed that skilled health personnel on government payroll is inadequate, adding, “About 50 per cent of 1,114 registered nurses and midwives on payroll are distributed within the state capital,” calling for implementation of rural posting policy.
The stakeholders also called on the state government to recruit, train and re-train skilled personnel across the state for effective service delivery.
BASAM urged the Ministry of Health to conduct regular public sensitization on the importance of child spacing, identify ways to enforce the guidelines that require private facilities to submit their MNCH data on time as well as ensure reliable, regular and adequate supply of partograph charts to all health facilities.
According to BASAM, “only 40% of female ages 15-49 use any method of modern contraceptives while only seven per cent of pregnant women attend postnatal clinic visit within three days of delivery and 31 per cent of children less than one year fully immunized. This situation calls for urgent action from the government and stakeholders”.