Women protest rise in maternal mortality in Lagos

A non-governmental organisation, Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) on Monday, led a  protest to the Lagos State House of Assembly over alleged increase in maternal deaths at state-owned Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and General Hospitals. The organisation disclosed that there were also several reports of people being denied access to state-owned hospitals for […]

A non-governmental organisation, Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) on Monday, led a  protest to the Lagos State House of Assembly over alleged increase in maternal deaths at state-owned Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and General Hospitals.
The organisation disclosed that there were also several reports of people being denied access to state-owned hospitals for failing to bring their spouses for compulsory blood donation.
WARDC, in a petition signed by its Executive Director, Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, and addressed to the Speaker of the House, claimed that independent findings have shown that in spite of the state government’s efforts towards reducing maternal deaths in the state, women still experience financial, infrastructural and institutional barriers in accessing adequate maternal healthcare at state-owned hospitals.
The organisation gave example of one Mrs. Omowunmi Shonuga who, they claimed, died with her baby on October 26, 2015 after given birth at the Rauf Aregbesola Health Centre in Alimosho, Mosan-Okunola Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of the state.
According to WARDC, the deceased had arrived at the hospital, where she registered for antenatal care at about 5.00a.m., but met the gates locked and without any medical attention, gave birth in the car.
“She was later referred to Igando General Hospital, but encountered delays as no ambulance was available to transfer her and on arrival at Igando, no bed space was available for her and she was denied admission,” Akiyode-Afolabi said, adding that one Mrs. Nnenna Obinna also died at the Lagos State General Hospital, Gbagada after given birth to triplets on September 23, 2015.
Another instance given by the protesters in the petition was that of Mrs. Folake Oduyoye who, they claimed, died at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Idi-Araba, after she was allegedly detained for three months for failure to pay hospital bills.
Akiyode-Afolabi further said: “The attitudes of the medical personnel and absence of the needed resources such as the ambulance and bed spaces are factors that contribute to loss of lives. The right to life puts an obligation on the state to take measures to safeguard individuals from arbitrary and preventable losses of life and this includes protecting women against the unnecessary loss of life related to pregnancy and childbirth. The acts of commission and omission of the hospitals by their negligence violate the right to life.”
The protesting women maintained that it was the responsibility of the state government to protect citizens against the loss of life and especially for women during child birth, adding that the government has a strong obligation to ensure that all the necessary facilities and adequate human and financial resources were available to prevent avoidable loss of lives.
“WARDC hereby proposes that Lagos State House of Assembly calls for a public hearing or independent investigations on the causes of maternal deaths and the contributory factors. We believe that the public hearing will provide an opportunity to hear men and women who have been personally affected by the issue in Lagos State,” the petition stated.
Reacting to the disclosures and allegations by WARDC, Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa sympathised with the families of the women who lost their lives during childbirths in hospitals in the state.
He also commended the protesters for being peaceful despite their grievances and for taking the matter before the state assembly, noting that the House could not actually ascertain the incidents stated by the protesters, but that the petition would be treated accordingly.

“We will critically look at the one that happened at Rauf Aregbesola Health Care Centre, but LUTH is not under our jurisdiction. That does not mean that we do not have the right to protect the lives of the people of the state. We will write to the hospital and hear from them too,” he said.

The Speaker then told the protesters that the state has primary health care centres in all the local governments and local council development areas in the state that attend to children and women because the crowd at the general hospitals might make it difficult for many people to be attended to simultaneously.

“We are not saying that their services are free of charge or not, but we have about 57 General Hospitals in the state. We recently passed the Health Insurance Law, where indigent people can easily access healthcare. All these we have been doing in the interest of our people,” he said.

He promised that the Assembly would ensure that pregnant women get good healthcare in all the state’s general hospitals and primary healthcare centres, adding that the Assembly members were also concerned about the maternal mortality rate.

“We will look at the petition and invite the necessary people from the concerned hospitals and your representatives so that we can get to the root of the matter and bring maternal mortality to an end in Lagos State,” he said.