Uduaghan Saves Warri Central Hospital From Losing NPMC, WACS Accreditation

BEVERLY HILLS, February 15, (THEWILL) - The Delta State governor, Dr.

Emmanuel Udughan, has saved the Warri Central Hospital from losing the   National Postgraduate Medical College   (NPMC) and  West African College of Surgeon (WACS) accreditation.

The hospital narrowly escaped the withdrawal of its accreditation by the two examination bodies with the inauguration of the multi-millionnaira Maternal and Child Care (MCC)  Centre at the hospital on Thursday by Governor Uduaghan.

The facility , which has   been serving as a centre for training of resident doctors, specialising  on Obstetrics and Gynaecology by NPMC and WACS, is also  a major centre for the state's Free Maternal Health Care Programme   flagged off in 2007 as well as the Free Under-Five Health Care flagged off in 2010.

Both NPMC and WACS had criticised  some of old facilities in the hospital and threatened to withdraw the accreditation of  the hospital over its poor infrastructure.

Medical Director of the hospital, Dr.
Kingsley Agholor, who disclosed this said the hospital management made representation to the governor to boost the hospital facility through the proper channel hence the magnificent structure.

"In our old facility, we had an antenatal care  hall that could only sit about 80 women comfortably.

With 200 to 250 women attending ANC daily, the result was that over flow into the walkways.

"The MCC (Maternal and Child Care Centre) has two beautiful holding areas that has the capacity to contain out ANC daily attendance.

"Furthermore, our former labour ward had only two standard delivery beds in a so -called second stage room (a practice which was criticised by the West African College of Surgeon and the National Postgraduate Medical College, both of which have accredited this hospital for Residency Training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology) and a six-bedded first stage room," he said.

He disclosed that the new facility has six standard delivery beds with capacity for to expand to nine leading to the creation of delivery suites which the hospital previously didn't have.

Lamenting  the problem of bed occupancy which had led to the situation whereby women are unfortunately, sometimes discharged within six hours of delivery, Agholor, noted that with the additional 35 maternal beds in the MCC,the problem of bed occupancy will be brought to an end as the hospital's old facility will not be abandoned.

According to him; "The implication is that our total maternity beds will have doubled to 70 beds with the coming of the MCC.

Importantly, this facility brings together, the paediatricians and obstetricians under one roof and brings the Special Care Baby Unit closer to the labour ward and the theatre.

"This is important as the National Postgraduate Medical College (NPMC) and the West African College of Surgeon (WACS) had threatened to withdraw accreditation of  this facility for training of Residents Doctors if this anomaly was not addressed.

" He said  the new MCC has freed up more room for expansion in the children ward complex, adding that the facility now has two state of the art theatres, including radiological unit equipped with an X-ray machine and ultrasound scans as compared to only one in former facility.

Agholor, while expressing gratitude to Uduaghan for the laudable project,   said   the MCC has improved significantly the aesthetic value of the Central Hospital, Warri.

Giving a statistics of how the programme has improved maternal health and reduced maternal mortality in the state, the medical doctor said that a year after the introduction of the free maternal health programme, the hospital recorded 26,253 ANCs with a total of 3,367 babies delivered at hospital.

Inaugurating the 100-bed centre Maternal and Child Care Centre as well as Delta State Ambulance Service at the occasion, Governor Uduaghan charged women to embark on family planning and promptly register for antenatal care whenever they are pregnant.

Uduaghan explained that the Government's free maternal and child care schemes were borne out of the high premium the Government  places on the health of women and children in the state.