PREGNANT WOMEN PROTEST OVER OUTRAGEOUS MEDICAL BILLS IN ONDO

Penpushing report further that the State Commissioner for Health, Wahaab Adegbenro, later came pacify the aggrieved protesters, noting that the issues raised by the women would be addressed by the government.

He faulted the position of the protesters on the bills, arguing that medical bills for pregnant women were not ”as high” as being alleged by protesting women, declaring that, “the era of free medicare has gone in Ondo State, residents should be patient and with the state government,” .

In his reaction, Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the Hospital, Moses Adewole, said only N9500 was being charged contrary to the allegations by the women, stressing that under the present administration, delivery was free in all the public hospitals, while the government invested a lot of funds on “mother and child” hospitals, specifically to cater for pregnant women and children.

The state received then several awards and accolades from international organisations for its achievements in bringing child and maternal mortality down. The Mimiko government also abolished the traditional birth attendants which accounted for the highest rate of maternal mortality and provided alternative employments for the attendants’’, he said.

‘There are fears that the gains of the last administration in the health sector are being reversed, with news that some traditional birth attendants were returning to their old trade’ Adewole stated.