Health agency signs MoU with NURTW on emergency transport scheme

Date:

The Federal Government on Thursday in Abuja signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) on emergency transportation scheme.

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Dr Ado Mohammed, Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, said the aim of the scheme is to address maternal and newborn emergencies and mortality in rural communities.

Mohammed said that the lack of effective referral mechanism was a major contributor to maternal and newborn deaths in the country.

“It has been identified that lack of effective referral mechanisms during emergencies is a major contributor to maternal and newborn deaths as a result of delays.

“It is to address this gap that the concept of the Emergency Transport Scheme (ETS) was developed. The role the ETS will play in reducing maternal mortality cannot be overemphasised.

“More than 60 per cent of maternal deaths are attributed to the lack of accessibility to transportation to the health facilities from the communities.’’

Mohammed said that the scheme was part of the SURE-P Maternal and Child Health programmes which has recorded significant achievement in the reduction of maternal and newborn mortality.

He said the success was achieved by ensuring access to skilled birth attendants and effective mobilisation of women for utilisation of the primary health care services through Conditional Cash Transfer.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) scheme is an innovative mechanism built into the SURE-P Maternal Child Health (MCH) programme.

It aims to increase the people’s access to primary health care services by paying women who attend antenatal clinics as part of a designed effort to address the rising menace of maternal mortality.

Mohammed said that the partnership would fast-track zero maternal mortality in the FCT, Niger, Bauchi, Kaduna, Zamfara, Anambra, Ebonyi, Bayelsa and Imo States.

He also gave an assurance that the MoU would be expanded and improved on if the scheme yields positive result.

“If, after proper monitoring by the media and relevant agencies, the scheme yields positive result, we will provide ambulances for NURTW and also trained its members on its usage.

“We will also involve the unions in the transportation of immunisation vaccines across the country.’’

Earlier, Alhaji Najeem Yasin, president of the union said 40 of its members were trained on ETS under the train-the-trainers programme.

Yasin said that the MoU entails carrying out a six-month-pilot ETS in selected SURE-P MCH facilities.

He said since 2004, the union had been in collaboration with development partners to implement ETS in northern Nigeria to transport pregnant women experiencing maternal complications to healthcare facilities.

“During this period, the ETS drivers transported thousands of pregnant women in various emergency situations to health facilities freely or upon payment of fuel cost only.’’

Yasin said that the resources provided would be judiciously used to implement the scheme as well as provide training that would build the capacity of union members at all levels

Babatunde Akinsola
Babatunde Akinsolahttps://naija247news.com
Babatunde Akinsola is aNaija247news' Southwest editor. He's based in Lagos and writes on the Yoruba Nation political issues, news and investigative reports

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