By Edoamaowo Udeme
Having a safe delivery of an adorable baby girl, on September 20th 2017, Mrs Jane Kalu a petty trader living in Karimo the Abuja suburb, headed home albeit mixed feelings, her experience in a General Hospital in Abuja made her vow not to return there no matter what. She only opted for a general hospital since according to her, Private ones were “Cut Throat” with their bills. two days later, her baby became sick and she headed straight to a Traditional Birth Attendant (TBA) who simply examined the baby, handed over to her and declare the baby “well”. I brought her home and lost her the following day.
Jane said the nurses attitude towards patients is the sole reason that she can never patronize General hospitals. “The nurses are so rude, they act as if they weren’t trained at all, the abuse you and even slap you at the slightest provocation”, Immediately I put to bed, we were cleaned up and discharged in less than one hour, they didn’t observe me or the baby, that explained my reluctance when the baby became sick”
“TBAs are not trained medically but they pay more attention to us, they pet you and make you feel at home, you can’t even compare them to nurses who are well trained but behave like animals” Jane added
A school teacher living in Suleja, Mrs Eloho Oyewo’s case is similar but the twist in her case is the religious aspect, Having delayed delivery of almost two days, the doctors had advised her in her trimester to undergo a Cesarean Section (CS) because of a growing fibroid in her system and her age but she chose to believe her “Pastor” more.
“He prayed for me and warned me that no knife should pass my belle else I will die, that I should deliver like the Biblical Hebrew women, I believed him prayed fervently and endured the two days pain”.
At this point Mr Oyewo her trader husband with teary eyes chipped in, “When the doctors called me in and asked me to sign a referral papers and transfer her to another hospital it then dawned on me that I could lose them both” The mother eventually made it but the baby was gone with the wind. “I almost lost them both”
Then, a shocker came, The Doctors later announced that adoption may be the only option for us as there was a lot of damage during the prolonged labor. If they still worship with that church, that “Pastor” he may tell them to once again ignore doctors warning and probably remind them of Biblical Sarah and Abraham.
While Mrs Jane Kalu and Mrs Eloho Oyewo lost their children, Little Promise Unwana will never know his mom except in pictures, she died at the hospital during operation.
It turns out that Mrs Unwana had been seen by TBA right from conception and was only rushed to the hospital delayed labor. “I can never wish that experience on my worst enemy” said Mr Unwana a motorcycle repairer. “We were completely ignored for hours simply because we didn’t register with them before then”, I was later asked to bring N120,000 before she could be attended to “Where in the world would I have gotten such money at that critical time?” “I actually watched my wife die helplessly”
“Before a few of my friends could teamed up and coughed out N50,000 but only the child could be saved”, “Since it is a General Hospital, I believe it is owned by the government, why can’t there be a law to treat people first and money comes latter?” Unwana asked rhetorically, “Do you know that after my wife died, the hospital detained the corpse till I paid in full before releasing her corpse to me? If I had money to use a private hospital, she wouldn’t have died in the first place”
A Teacher and Researcher, Mrs Utitofon Ekanem, has had the experience of both private and public hospitals in Nigeria and in her opinion “ Nurses are less rude in private than public hospitals but you get a fair treatment in the private one but in public hospital you pay for everything, if you don’t give a nurse N50 for gloves or cotton wool, she doesn’t attend to you”.
According to a Health Care Women Int. 2014 survey conducted in Akpabuyo community of Cross Rivers State, The proportion of women who patronized traditional birth attendants (TBAs) or modern health care practitioners (MHCPs) was compared, including reasons for their choices.
Upon 300 respondents selected through a random sampling technique, with the instrument for data collection as a validated 21-item structured questionnaire, “We observed that 75 (25%) patronized and 80 (27%) preferred TBAs, and 206 (69%) patronized and 220 (75%) preferred MHCPs, while 19 (6%) patronized both”
“The view that TBAs before conducting deliveries was supported by a majority 75 (94%) of the respondents who preferred them. Factors associated with preference for TBAs should be addressed”
The President, National Association of Nurses and Midwives (NNANM), National Hospital, Abuja, Mr Upu Terver, in response to inhumane treatment of patients by nurses said “It depends on the institution, such cannot be tolerated at the National Hospital, we don’t do such, if such a nurse is reported, he or she will be punished according to our laws”.
“There are certain stages of labor where we don’t ask for deposit and we attend to them right away, we save life first before asking of deposit. In fact even if it is a doctor dares make such demand ant that critical time, you will be shocked that a nurse will get up and challenge that doctor. We checkmate each other ”
On neglecting unregistered patients in case of emergency, Mr Terver says its criminal and it’s not done at the National Hospital, you will first be attended to while your spouse will be made to provide information for opening your card.
On nurses attitude to patients, a nurse who works at Comprehensive Primary Health Care, Gidan Mangoro AMAC, Abuja, Mrs Felicia Upu says “the problem with pregnant women is that most of them usually flaunt ante natal instructions only to show up when complications arises, what do you really expect us to do at that moment?”
“If they had been observing their Ante-Natal visits, it would have been very easy for doctors to know their health status to be able to attend to them during emergency “added Mrs Upu
UNICEF report has it that In 2015, it is estimated that about 800 girls and women died every day as a result of pregnancy and child birth-related complications. Maternal deaths are now increasingly concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa.
“The world, as a whole, has improved access to these services, with 71 per cent of women delivering with the support of a skilled birth attendant in 2014, compared to 59 per cent in 1990, progress has not been fast enough”
In the recent Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) conducted by the Government of Nigeria and UNICEF in 2016/17, the rate of newborn deaths per 1000 births is 37.
This national average hides the differences between the 36 states and the slow progress in some of them. For instance, South West Nigeria tops the list with 83. 8% of more women who pay at least 4 or more ante natal visits before delivery while North West is the least on the chart with only 35.4%
“More than 80 per cent of newborn deaths are due to prematurity, asphyxia, complications during birth as was the cases of the trio mentioned above or infections such as pneumonia and sepsis”
‘With access to well-trained midwives during antenatal and postnatal visits as well as delivery at a health facility, along with proven solutions like clean water, disinfectants, breastfeeding within the first hour, skin-to-skin contact, proper cord care, and good nutrition these deaths are preventable”.
Nigeria still lags behind in improved healthcare with a shortage of well-trained health workers and midwives which means that thousands don’t receive the life-saving support they need to survive, that explains why some pregnant women run to TBAs.
So where is Nigeria in the improved access to healthcare services? The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole said that “despite Nigeria’s current rating as second to last country on the Maternal Mortality index scale in Africa, it is possible for the country to achieve a below 100 ratio by the year 2030 and 300 maternal mortality rate in 2018”
“Nigerian Nurses need Public Relations training, their PR is zero, that maybe the reason these women run to Traditional Birth Attendants” Mrs Ekanem
Perhaps these words of the Teacher and Researcher Utitofon Ekanem may just aid Nigeria to save more lives.
