Source: Cajnewsagency
Abuja — DELTA State government has commissioned a 100-bed maternal and childcare centre at the Warri Central Hospital.

The State Governor Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan said the free maternal and child care schemes were borne out of the high premium government placed on the health of women and children.

"Our unflinching resolve to protect the lives and health of our women and children led to the establishment of the Free Maternal Healthcare Programme in 2007 and Free Under-Five Healthcare in 2010.

"These programmes have helped to ensure that all pregnant women in Delta State can access free healthcare throughout the period of pregnancy, delivery and afterwards while our children, below the age of five years, are guaranteed free medical treatment in all public health facilities," he said.

He said the centre would greatly reduce the risk of injury and death in women from pregnancy related causes and in children, from diseases. Our steadily declining maternal mortality and under-five mortality rates are attestation to these facts.

"These achievements further spurred us to improve on our successes given our belief that no woman has to die neither because she is pregnant nor should any child die owing to preventable and treatable diseases," Uduaghan.

According to him, the modern health facility was equipped with state-of-the-art medical equipment and staffed with commensurate quality of staff that could provide tertiary level maternal and child healthcare.

"With this new centre, we would be better positioned to achieve the MDGs as related to maternal and child care by the year 2015,' the governor said.

Uduaghan advised women to embark on family planning and space their births to guarantee their health and those of their babies.

He also charged women to promptly register for their antenatal care whenever they are pregnant and go to the hospital for their deliveries and stop patronising quack birth attendants.

• Nigeria