At least 5,000 women and newborns have benefited from the Federal Government’s free emergency healthcare programme in Bauchi State over the past three years.
The State Focal Person for the Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (CEmONC) programme, Dr Hassan Shu’aibu, disclosed this in an interview in Bauchi on Wednesday.
The programme, implemented through the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) since November 2023, provides free emergency care for pregnant women and newborns across eight health facilities in the state.
Shu’aibu said the services covered life-saving medicines, blood transfusions, Caesarean sections and treatment for pregnancy-related convulsions. He added that plans were underway to extend the programme to more public, private and faith-based health facilities.
Meanwhile, the Bauchi Coordinator of the Sector-Wide Approach, Dr Ashiru Adamu, said the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare had provided medical equipment and supplies worth ₦10 billion to the state.
He added that 76 primary healthcare centres had been renovated, while 15 rural ambulances and six compressed natural gas-powered ambulances had been deployed to improve access to healthcare.
Adamu also disclosed that about 700 health workers had been recruited under an initiative by the state government and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency to address staff shortages.
Beneficiaries praised the programme for easing the cost of emergency maternal care. Musa Inuwa said the intervention enabled his wife to undergo a Caesarean section and safely deliver her baby after developing high blood pressure during pregnancy, without his family bearing the treatment costs.
Another beneficiary, Binta Ibrahim, described the initiative as timely and helpful to women struggling to afford essential maternal healthcare.
