Femi Makinde, Osogbo
The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has lamented the high number of women with obstetric fistula in the country, describing the burden of between 300,000 and 400,000 cases as too high.
Adewole said the Federal Government, in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development, had started free repair surgeries for sufferers of obstetric fistula in order to reduce the burden.
Speaking at the commencement of free repair surgeries at Wesley Guild Hospital, Ilesa in Osun State, on Thursday, the minister said the Federal Government was determined to put an end to the stigma of the sufferers and restore their dignity by giving them free access to repair surgeries.
Obstetric fistula is caused by obstructed labour and sufferers lose the ability to control their urination.
Adewole said the free obstetric fistula repair surgeries would restore the hope of the hopeless masses suffering in silence from the condition across the nation.
Adewole said the Federal Government would upgrade the Wesley Hospital, one of the centres where obstetric fistula repair surgeries are done. He said the upgrade would help to take care of those suffering from the condition and train other medical professionals to better handle the cases.
The minister said, “We want to make the Wesley Hospital, a Federal Medical Centre, and a centre of excellence for (obstetric) fistula repair.
“We need to stop more obstetric fistula from occurring, but we need to clear the backlog and that backlog is huge. Currently, we have an estimate between 300,000 and 400,000 sufferers waiting for repair surgeries.
“If we continue at this rate; by 2050, we would not be able to clear them. So to stop it, we will open more centres and train more people to clear the backlog and when we do that, we would reassure these people that they are also Nigerians and that this country cares for them.
“Most of the time, investments in health are not profitable in any other area. We will make (obstetric) fistula repair a part of our cardinal programme in the ministry. We are planning to do free cancer screening but we will make fistula repair one of our cardinal programmes in Nigeria. We will go across the country to develop more centres.”
The Chief Medical Director of the OAUTHC, Prof. Victor Adetiloye, lauded the Federal Government, describing its initiative as a good move that would allow sufferers to access treatment and begin to live well again.
The Country Project Manager, USAID/ Fistula Care Plus, Chief Iyeme Ifem, said the US was in support of the initiative because of its negative impact on the workforce and manpower.
The President, International Society of Fistula Surgeons, Prof. Oladosu Ojengbede, said he and other experts were ready to train doctors on the repair of obstetric fistula so that they could train others on how to handle the cases.
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