Mrs Mbah Clears Medical Bills For Nursing Mothers In Hospital

Wife of the Enugu State Governor, Mrs. Nkechinyere Mbah, has cleared the medical bills of nursing mothers who have been in the hospital due to lack of money to settle their outstanding medical bills, and mad e case for exclusive breastfeeding of babies.
Mrs Mbah, who made the case during a visit to the maternity ward of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) Teaching Hospital, Park Lane, Enugu, as part of activities marking the beginning of this year’s World Breastfeeding Week, also made available gifted childcare items and cash to the nursing mothers.
Noting that the importance of breastfeeding cannot be over emphasized, Mrs Mbah said it would help the children grow healthy, assuring that Governor Mbah’s administration had already marshaled out plans to reform the health sector to make it more qualitative and affordable.
According to her, the Governor had also taken particular note of the need to improve quality of maternal, infant, and child healthcare in the state.
In her words, “Exclusive and extended breastfeeding is not easy, but it is something you have to do. Your baby deserves to be well breastfed. It boosts their immune system, and I never really had the need to be taking children to the hospital, except for immunisation, because my babies were healthy.
“So, I can tell you from experience that breastfeeding really works. So, I encourage you to breastfeed our babies. Forget about people that do about two or three months of breastfeeding”.
Speaking, the Chief Nursing Officer, Post-Natal Ward, Rosemary Osuoji, ESUT Teaching Hospital, said: “Besides the items and cash gifts to nursing mothers, the wife of the Governor also attended to the postnatal mothers, who have been discharged several weeks ago, but could not afford hospital bills due to financial constraints.
“So, she settled the bills of about six of them, and they are now free to go home”.
The Permanent Secretary, Enugu State Ministry of Health, Dr. Ifeanyi Agujiobi, in his remarks, said the present administration was already working to increase maternity leave in the state from four to six months.
“Today marks the beginning of World Breastfeeding Week. The emphasis is on exclusive breastfeeding to make sure that women that have just delivered implement the policy so that the immune systems of the babies will be well built and those new infants will be free from neonatal diseases and infection. That is the way to go.
“Presently, nursing mothers are entitled to four months maternity leave, but we are currently working through the Office of the Head of Service to see if that could be increased to six months of fully paid maternity leave”, he explained.
On his part, the Chief Medical Director of ESUT Teaching Hospital, Dr. Hyacinth Onah, thanked the wife of the Governor for her magnanimity and for her encouraging words to the nursing mothers, reiterating that exclusive breastfeeding makes the children healthier.
The World Breastfeeding Week is an annual celebration held from August 1 to 7 in more than 120 countries to raise awareness and galvanise action on themes related to breastfeeding.