Consultant paediatrician, Dr. Efunbo Dosekun, has raised the alarm over the death of newborn babies, saying that no fewer than 700 of them die daily in the country.
The paediatrician, who spoke at a briefing organised by the Anu Dosekun Foundation in Lagos, blamed it on lack of incubators, among other causes.
According to her, only a few health centres have functional incubators while many lack the facility.
She also identified the shortage of infrastructure, inadequate skilled birth attendants, as well as poor planning and implementation of health programmes as other major contributory factors. She further identified poor planning and implementation of maternal health programmes by the government and other stakeholders as compounding the crisis.
Noting that the nation’s health system is weak, particularly in emergency care provision, Dosekun, who is the Chief Executive Officer, Outreach Medical Services, called for capacity building and infrastructural development.
She said, “It is sad that countries such as Cuba, with low GDP like Nigeria, have maternal mortality rate that is as low as that of the United Kingdom.
“There is an acute shortage of neonatal services across the country. For instance, incubators are still not available in many Nigerian hospitals. Premature babies die while their parents are looking for where to care for them.
“There is a need for Nigeria to establish acute care centres for sick babies and premature babies, especially those born outside public sector health facilities.”
Dosekun, who said the foundation had rescued more than 40,000 sick babies in five years, explained that it used 12 strategies to accomplish this.
She added, “Children are different from adults and their treatments are different. They cannot speak and there is need for special trained medical experts to make diagnosis. There are new technologies the government should be able to bring them down for these children.”
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