Reps worried over rising mortalities from caesarian operations

Want medical centres established at airports

The House of Representatives yesterday raised concerns over rising rates of maternal mortalities caused by caesarian operations and urged the Ministry of Health to address the situation.

It urged the ministry to provide improved facilities and well equipped medical personnel at all public hospitals across Nigeria and mandated its Committees on Healthcare Services and Health Institutions to liaise with the ministry to ensure compliance and report within four weeks for further legislative actions.

This followed the adoption of a motion moved by Sergius Ogun who expressed concern that the incidences of maternal mortality occasioned by caesarean operations are on the rise.

He cited the latest medical survey revealing that no fewer than 300,000 women died annually in Nigeria as a result of the procedure.

He said if the situation was left unattended to, the country might lose an alarming number of mothers in the process of childbirth.

Also yesterday, the house urged the Ministry of Health to collaborate with relevant agencies of government to establish medical centres across all airports in the country to cater for healthcare needs and medical emergencies of passengers.

This followed the adoption of a motion moved at plenary by Rep Emeka Martins Chinedu.

Chinedu expressed concern that five international airports in the country are presently operating with either deplorable, little or no medical facilities, while the remaining ones are practically without verifiable medical facilities.

He said the situation had led to avoidable loss of lives of passengers at some of the airports due to nonavailability of facilities to handle medical emergencies.

He said: “a transit friendly environment such as an airport is expected to be equipped with adequate medical facilities and personnel to tackle emergency situations at the airports.”