The Ondo State government has begun distributing 1,000 pregnancy kits to expectant mothers under its ‘Ibi Irorun’ Safe Delivery Initiative.
Launched at the Basic Healthcare Centre in Arakale, Akure, the initiative aims to promote safe childbirth and reduce the financial burden of delivery on pregnant women and their families.
Represented by his Special Adviser on Health, Simidele Odimayo, the governor said the programme was part of his administration’s efforts to improve healthcare delivery.
According to him, the programme would also make medical services more accessible and affordable to residents.
Aiyedatiwa also added that more than 300,000 residents had been enrolled in the state health insurance scheme, while 102 primary healthcare centres had been completed and equipped.
He revealed that 60 other primary healthcare centres were undergoing revitalisation.
The governor said the state was also supporting healthcare workers and had concluded arrangements to provide magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and CT scan machines, theatre suites and ophthalmic equipment at the teaching hospital level.
He described the Ibi Irorun initiative as ‘an icing on the cake,’ saying it would complement the government’s existing free healthcare services for pregnant women.
The Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Bosede Osamaye, said the first phase of the initiative would provide 1,000 kits, each containing 13 hospital delivery items approved by the governor.
‘Today, the state has started the distribution of 1,000 pregnancy kits in the first phase, tagged ‘Ibi Irorun Safe Delivery Items’, which contain 13 hospital delivery items as approved by the governor,’ she said.
Osamaye said the initiative would help ease the financial burden on expectant mothers and their families.
She also lauded the governor’s wife, Oluwaseun Aiyedatiwa, for advocating free healthcare services for pregnant women in the state.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ondo State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Francis Akanbiemu, said the kits would make childbirth easier for beneficiaries.
According to Akanbiemu, beneficiaries only need to take the kits to their health facilities when they are due for delivery.
‘Everything needed for delivery is there, including wrappers, gloves and other essential items. They do not need to take anything else to the hospital,’ he said.
Akanbiemu said women delivering in government health facilities were not required to pay for delivery services.
He said combining the free delivery services with the maternity kits would further reduce the financial burden on families.