Volunteer doctors target maternal deaths

The Voluntary Obstetrics Scheme (VOS) has already enlisted some 87 obstetricians and gynaecologists, says the Society for Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria (SOGON) which presented VOS to National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) in a memo last year.Speaking at the launch of VOS in Abuja, NPHCDA Executive Director Dr Ado Muhammad said the scheme […]

The Voluntary Obstetrics Scheme (VOS) has already enlisted some 87 obstetricians and gynaecologists, says the Society for Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria (SOGON) which presented VOS to National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) in a memo last year.
Speaking at the launch of VOS in Abuja, NPHCDA Executive Director Dr Ado Muhammad said the scheme will help improve mentoring and supervision in thousands of primary health care centres (PHCs) where the ongoing Midwives Services Scheme runs.
The experts working in tertiary or teaching hospitals “will provide supervision for PHCs that fall within their area of supervision; they will mentor human resource there, guide them to do the right thing and supervise their conduct,” said Muhammad.
“The overarching objective is to improve quality of care, because over the years what we have noticed is that people don’t go to PHCs, not because the facilities are not there, but because quality of care in those facilities is not up to standard,” he added.
According to the MOU, volunteers will work with facility officials to identify gaps, train health workers, gather and disseminate information related to best practices in maternal and child health care.
SOGON President, Dr Fred Achem, said VOS aims to bring the impact of tertiary training to the work of skilled birth attendants (SBAs) and possibly address the challenge of skewed distribution and nationwide shortage of SBAs.
Forty percent of all obstetricians and gynaecologists in Nigeria live and work in Lagos alone, noted Achem.
Only about four in 10 births are supervised by SBAs, according to the latest demographic health survey, and figures range from 82% in the southeast to 10% in the northwest.