Jutha Gupah, Maiduguri
The United Nations Fund for Population (UNFPA) in collaboration with Korean and Canadian governments has launched N1.8 billion fistula theatre repair project in Borno state. The Maiduguri Vesico-Vaginal Fistula (VVF) repair centre has 50-bed capacity; equipped with 32 sets each of labour and delivery beds, hospital beds/mattresses, operating theatre tables and gynecology examination tables. Commissioning the repair centre on Wednesday at State Specialists Hospital, Maiduguri, the Korean Ambassador to Nigeria, Lee In Tae said that the health project, will not only repair fistula among women, but provide them with vocational training and socioeconomic empowerment. According to him, the 32 sets of hospital equipment will serve the needs of 30,000 people for three months. His words: “This fistula repair project could also save many of the hundreds of thousands of women in Nigeria, who die each year from complication of pregnancy or childbirth. “With the excellent cooperation between Nigeria and Korea, the commissioning of fistula theatre project in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital will provide basic maternal and reproductive health care services.” The Medical Director of State Specialists Hospital, Dr. Laraba Bello told the Korean Ambassador that 120 women are on the waiting list for repair of fistula at the commissioned theatre project. She said that five fistula surgeons and neurologists from Germany, France and Nigeria successfully performed repairs of fistula on 57 women at the VVF centre. “As we have mobilised 250 women for fistula repairs across the state, the surgeons however made over a dozen referrals, before any other repairs could be performed. Dr. Bello and the UNFPA attributed fistula to five factors, which include, early childbirth, inadequate skilled birth attendants and poor access to quality caesarean section services. According to the UN agency, poor access and utilization of family planning services and low girl child education exacerbate fistula in the country. “There are few policies on fistula at the federal, state or local government level dedicated to prevention or eradication of obstetric fistula in Nigeria,” said the agency in its 2018 fact sheet. While receiving the handed over project from Tae, Governor Kashim Shettima said that women and children bear the brunt of Boko Haram insurgency. He said that the nine-year insurgency has rendered the state with 54,911 widows and 52,311 orphans. He said the fistula repair project will also add value to the development of the girl-child education and empowerment of women. He noted that before the commissioning of repair theatre project, three women had been in hospital for over 20 years suffering from fistula.
