BORN Olusegun Rahman Mimiko, he took up a caring profession as a medical doctor. Over time, the Ondo State governor acquired a name for his administration, inspired by his desire to help the common man with his caring nature, hence the toga of a “Caring Heart.”
A caring heart indeed, Governor Mimiko is demonstrating his care for the governed in his state of service and he is not weary yet. Most of the Governor’s projects are no doubt care-driven, hence, his being referred to as a caring heart Governor.
Three years on, the man whose political name is Iroko has not given up giving to the people of his state from his overflowing heart of care. The latest in Mr. Governor’s heart of care is the provision of 50 tricycle ambulances for the state’s Abiye project.
Under the Abiye project, otherwise known as the safe motherhood project, Governor Mimiko has been able to drastically reduce maternal-mortality rate in the state. As a matter of fact, Ondo State has been identified by the World Bank as a model for the African continent in the care for expectant women and in the provision of medical facilities to curb the high mortality rate which state was noted for before the Mimiko government came on board.
Under the safe motherhood program which has as one of its components, the globally acclaimed Mother and Child Hospital, expectant women are registered, treated and looked after for about two months after delivery for free.
At the point of registration, each pregnant woman is given a telephone to enable her relate with her physician at will. This will enable any ailing expectant woman to contact her physician to detect any emergent health troubles and nip them in the bud.
It was however discovered that women in the rural areas had trouble commuting to the main Mother and Child Hospital when in dire need of medical attention, thereby costing the government more that it would have cost if the patient had faster access to medical attention.
It was in view of this that Mimiko acquired and commissioned a 50 tricyle ambulances, to be stationed at villages and other communities to administer first aide treatment on patients before they could access the major medical attention.
At the commissioning recently of the new acquisition, the Governor remarked
that the Safe Motherhood program has drastically reduced maternal and child death in the state. Celebrating the gains of the Safe Motherhood program, the Governor mentioned that the Abiye Safe Motherhood project has scaled up Ondo State in the reduction of maternal deaths by 15 per cent and child deaths by 26 per cent respectively within a period of three years.
The state was rated by the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey in 2008 as having the worst maternal and child health statistics in the South Western Nigeria.
The World Bank also stated that the Abiye project is presently the benchmark for maternal and child health for the whole of Africa and the developing world.
Mimiko mentioned at the celebration that “with the continuation of this trend, facility data will show that Ondo State would have achieved MDG 4 and 5 mandating such reduction rates by 33 and 75 per cent respectively by 2015.
The state government, he disclosed, is investing in the assemblage of Ambulance-on-Tricycles to be deployed in phases to every community in the state as intervention strategy to counter four phases of delay predisposing to maternal and child health.
According to him, more of the Tricycles will be assembled and deployed to every ward to ensure that immunization gets to all nooks and crannies of the state.
“Each vehicle, to be fitted with delivery and first aid kits, cold chain boxes to offer a wide range of clinical services, will be attached to a health ranger to transport or evacuate patients in need of care from the community to the appropriate facility.
The governor commissioned 50 of the tricycles at the occasion and later inaugurated the second phase of the Mother and Child Hospital.
He said at the ceremony that “Almost 11, 000 babies have been safely delivered at the Mother and Child Hospital, Akure and Abiye Centres, out of which more than 1, 500 were by caesarean section. The hospital now ranks as one of the busiest maternity centres in Nigeria as it records about 20 deliveries daily.
“It has evolved into the only tertiary facility in Nigeria offering free services to pregnant women and children irrespective of ethnicity, social status or place of residence” the governor explained.
On the project’s sustenance and replication, Mimiko told the gathering that activities are in top gear to scale up Abiye Safe Motherhood to the remaining 17 local government areas of the state.
He implored those who preferred to deliver in traditional homes and mission houses run by unskilled birth attendants to switch over to hospitals operated by trained health care professionals for safety of lives.
These gestures could only have come from a caring heart which has also been receiving the merited acclaim for its overflowing of goodness.
Apart from these gestures which have made the women folk in the state vow to ensure the Governor gets elected for a second term, his praise was also on the lips of the participant and officials at the recently held Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria (SOGON) ‘s Maternal Death Review Training held in Abuja.
At the international gathering, Mimiko was applauded by the World Bank for his initiatives and vigorous drive at actualizing the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goal targeting drastic reduction in maternal deaths.
He was particularly applauded for his total commitment to the cause as well as his unequalled campaign against maternal deaths.
The governor was praised for the various machineries put in place at ensuring that maternal deaths are reduced to the barest minimum in Ondo State in line with the Millennium Development Goal.
World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Marie Francoise Marie- Nelly also praised the Governor. While commending Mimiko, Nelly said, reforms being put in place by the state governor at combating the astronomical rise in maternal deaths signal improved care which has resulted in the rolling out of bold healthcare reforms that focus on results at public health facilities.
Nigeria accounts for 10percent of maternal deaths despite contributing only 2 percent to world population. The desire of Mimiko to reduce the death percentage was what brought about the move towards the direction of the Ambulance Tricycle, which most residents have adjudged as a noble move.
According to the State’s Commissioner for Information, Mr Kayode Akinmade, the efforts of the government in ensuring safe delivery of expectant women in the state is as a result of Governor Mimiko’s belief that pregnancy will never be death sentence for any woman in the state, adding that that the modest intervention of the government in health delivery has attracted accolades from both local and international organization like the World Bank SOGON among many other bodies.
The Commissioner vowed that the government would meet the MDG’S 2015 projection on mortality rate because the government is committed to the goal.