The Enugu State Government has trained 34 midwives and nurses for improved maternal health attendance in primary healthcare centres within the state.

The Executive Secretary of the Enugu State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Ifeyinwa Ani-Osheku, told journalists on Saturday that the training was an eight-day residential intensive training for the midwives and nurses.

Ms Ani-Osheku said that the training and other series of training for the midwives and nurses from various PHC facilities were meant to launch the “Enugu State Zero Maternal Mortality and Child Morbidity Initiative.”

According to her, the initiative is part of Governor Peter Mbah’s promises to Enugu State residents, in which the agency is putting in practical programmes and intervention sequences to see that its execution.  

“We know that 70 per cent of the indigenes in Enugu State reside in rural areas, and what this means is that they are the people that primarily access healthcare from PHC facilities. We have at least a PHC facility per 260 political wards in Enugu State and a total of 560 PHC facilities in the entire state scattered within the 17 council areas.

“The state government, through the ENS-PHCDA, wants to ensure that these PHC facilities are adequately staffed with healthcare professionals with modern knowledge, skills and zeal to deliver healthcare to the vast majority of our people,” she said.

The executive secretary said that the training which was part of repositioning the PHC facilities for the Enugu State zero maternal mortality and child morbidity Initiative, was to ensure improved skills and passion to attend to the people in PHC facilities.

Ms Ani-Osheku said that the agency was driving at having “at any given time a staff, notwithstanding his or her level in the PHC facility, be it a community health extension worker, that could attend to any person in a health emergency at odd hours of the day.”

The training coordinator, Dr Paraclete Ugwu, said that each of the 17 council areas had two representatives undergoing the training.

Ms Ugwu, who is the ENS-PHCDA Head of Planning, Research and Statistics, noted that they would undertake intensive training on emergency healthcare response and holistic maternal, child and neonatal care.

“They are being trained on Basic Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care and other vital training on maternal, child, and neonatal as well as other basic PHC functions. It would be on a train-the-trainer basis in order to step down the training even to Community Health Extension Workers at the PHC facilities,” she said.

One of the beneficiaries of the training, Perpetua Ngwuoffor, who is a nurse, said that the training had been helpful for her to learn how to run a PHC well with limited resources.

Ms Ngwuoffor, who is serving at the Isi-enu Ugbawka Health Centre in Nkanu East LGA, said, “I appreciate the state government and ENS-PHCDA for the training because it will help me function effectively.” 

(NAN)