High mortality rate is preventable in Nigeria------Obidike

Mrs Grace Obidike, Nee Ugbor, is a Nigerian born midwife based in Australia. In her career as a midwife, spanning two decades in South Africa, Auckland in New Zealand, and Australia, she is not new in the business of child delivery and has seen it all in the labour room. The Social Secretary of Igbo community in Australia told Emeka Ibemere, in this interview that throughout her years as a midwife, she only saw one woman who died giving birth. The Abia State born lady, who is on holidays in Nigeria said the high mortality rate in Nigeria can be prevented if the right things are placed in other. She also spoke against the role of auxiliary nurses taking the duties of professionals, violence and abuse against women and children and called for affirmative action against the crimes against women in Nigeria. Excerpts

When did you leave Nigeria?

I left in 1993, after graduating from Midwifery school Jos, Plateau State. I’m a professional midwife and I obtained my licence in midwifery in Nigeria before going to overseas, where I did my Advance Diploma in midwifery in South Africa, and then I went to Auckland in New Zealand to do my law in midwifery just to know their regulations and other things before practicing midwifery. I practiced in Nigeria for some years before travelling out of the country. I was in New Zealand for eight and half years, in South Africa for five years and in Australia till date.

Are you still in the profession?

Yes, I’m still a midwife. I’m independent, a private practitioner. I work for King Edward Memorial Hospital in Australia, and I work for a company called Cradle to Kinddy, in Australia as a Representative Officer in Western Australia.

Are you into any NGO?

No, no, but I intend to do that in near future. I sponsor Charity Organizations in Nigeria, like the Save Our Soul in Isolo. I go there to donate relief materials and other things to these orphanage homes. Since I came back, I have visited about three of such organizations.

What is the motivating factor in your involvement in charity and humanitarian works?

  I have passion for kids because it’s my core career area. I’m a midwife and I safe lives and I’m too emotional about children, pregnant mothers and youths. It gives me joy trying to help these people.

Let’s look at the mortality rate issue in Nigeria. There are reports that 10 pregnant women die in Nigeria in every month giving birth. How do you evaluate our mortality development?

It’s quite poor and very alarming. It’s just in a very poor state and sometimes when I look at what is happening here, I got traumatized. I have lived in overseas for long time now and I can vividly tell you that all my years as a midwife in abroad, I have only witnessed one death. One woman that died giving birth. She delivered her baby but had postpartum haemorrhage (bleeding) afterwards and died. So, it is really heart breaking for me to come to Nigeria and then see things happening the way it is. It’s really sad. Like in every 10 women that go to the hospital one of them must have a problem and that could cause death. I have this woman just close to my house here in Nigeria and she is pregnant, the next day I went to visit her to know how she is faring I was shocked that she’s gone with the baby.

Are you saying that some of these deaths are preventable?  

Yes, they are preventable. One of the factors of the mortality problems in Nigeria is the economic situation of the country. Some of them go to the hospitals met the doctor but because they don’t have money to pay for the services supposed to give to them, the doctors can’t admit them or render services to these pregnant mothers. The mothers would labour and in the process develop complications and next thing is death.

Are you also looking at the professionals themselves as part of the problem or is it purely a case of economic factor? 

I’m not going to mention names here. Since I came home, I have visited one or three hospitals in Lagos State, and my observations about the attitude and character of our professionals are very poor. In 2007, when I visited Nigeria, I was at one hospital to see what they are doing because I     followed my pregnant cousin to the hospital and what I saw professionally irritated me about our nurses and midwives. I saw a pregnant woman writhing in labour and was crying and calling a midwife to help her and that she is dying, she was crying, ‘nurse helps me! Nurse helps me, help me nurse’ and with tears rolling down her eyes, do you know what? I told this particular midwife, and said this is not the profession, this not way, this dying woman is your first priority and you are sitting there eating rice and shouting at the woman to go and sit down. Do you know, I have to take this woman to the delivery room and five minutes later, she delivered but she bled which was as a result of complications due to delay. She didn’t die but she stayed at the hospital longer than the necessary. She lacked blood and her family members have to donate blood for her. I have had this woman also who die due to lack of care. She had twins and attended anti-natal and all that, but they didn’t check her haemoglobin level to find out if she has enough blood to have those babies before she delivered her babies and she has to die.

Do you also look at some traditions, culture and religious belief of some people who do not go to hospital when they are pregnant or don’t go to the hospital at all because of their belief as part of the factors that trigger this mortality issue?

With culture, religion and traditions it still fall back to the professional question. To start with, if a woman comes to you, she is pregnant and you have to start from day one to educate them. Try and let them know that culture, religion and tradition have nothing to do in child delivery and pregnancy.

For instance, Jehovah Witness members, they don’t believe in blood transfusion thing, so these are the things you as a professional should educate them to know for the sake of that baby in the womb and not even about yourself. In the area of culture some people will say don’t go and they encourage them to depend on these native medicines and treatment of the 17^th century to have their babies; you as a professional, you have to educate them the importance of going to doctors, professionals and hospitals. So, I believe that the mortality problem in Nigeria is caused by poverty of the economy, lackadaisical professionals, crude culture, tradition and religious fanaticism. Poor funding of the health sector by the three tier governments of the federal, state and local governments are also part of it and these things and the mortality issues are killing our babies and pregnant mothers.

What is the solution as a professional with wide experience?   

The government should device a means to educate mothers and pregnant women on the issue. Government should declare an emergency on it and not only on mortality issue but in all gamut of our health system.

Primary health care system should be made compulsory for every child and expectant mothers in the rural localities in the country. Government should employ more health workers and adopt a compulsory training and re-training of their staffers in the health sector and monitor private hospitals.

It’s like there are no monitoring and checks of hospitals by the regulatory bodies.  The churches and the religious bodies, the Non-Governmental Organizations, NGOs, the traditional rulers, community health workers, school teachers, university lecturers, medical professionals and stakeholders should have advocacy group and campaign about the consequences and negative implications of mortality problems in the country. Its fight everybody should fight and engaged into to safe our children, unborn babies and expectant mothers and protect the future generations of this country. These groups should create awareness and take the message down to the grassroots and educate our women.

They should carry out sensitization programme and let people know that religion and culture should not be allowed to affect certain life issues, especially in the area of child-bearing. Government should provide budget for such advocacy campaign because it’s not something you make policy statement and you don’t follow it with action plan.

What advice do you have for the government on mortality problem?

Government should budget more funds in the health sector and make medical care system compulsory and free throughout the country, so that they can go and obtain the services free.

Most countries are doing it free for expectant mothers starting from the time of conception to the d-day and up to post-natal months. They can subsidize the bill by paying half of the bill and it can go a long way to reduce the tragedy of mortality rate in Nigeria. Nigerian politicians should rule this country with good heart and make sure that peace reign in Nigeria. Children are not going to school and one man is amassing the wealth of the country alone.

You thought of having passion for children and we want to ask you about your views on child-labour and child- trafficking crimes in Nigeria?

It’s a crime against humanity. It’s a child abuse allowing children to be breadwinners by hawking on bus stops and on traffic-hold ups. It’s a violation of child’s right which is against the UN charter. The children should be loved and treated like Angels. They should be sent to schools and not to the streets to hawk. So, I’m totally against it and one expects the government to wake up on that and do something. It’s not something an individual should stop. Government should enact law that will prohibit the illicit act. Any child seen hawking or arrested, that child parents or guardian should be held responsible and culpable and be dealt with.

These things don’t exist in abroad. But in third world countries, it does. Child labour and trafficking in advance countries is heavy offence. Children should be allowed to enjoy their childhood and not to go into labour.

Baby-factories are everywhere now in Nigeria because of the challenges of infertility and this baby factory business is booming to the extent that a male child cost as high as N500,000 and female child costs N300,000 and it’s now a common way of breeding children for adoption. What is your take on it?   

It’s also a crime against God and humanity. It is not acceptable anywhere in the world. Selling a baby is a sin. This is where our leaders should intensify the law and make it to work that any person caught in the act should be jailed for life so that the person will wrought in prison. It is violence against women and children and cruel or man’s inhumanity to man.

Women should rise and have a serious protest rally condemning it. I remember the Aba women riot that stopped the taxation of women in Nigeria. That singular protest went a long way in protecting women until now. Why can’t Nigerian women replicate the same thing here on this issue of baby factory and abuse of women and children? When women where women, these kind of things cannot happen. Even in abroad, women, I mean powerful women will take to the streets and protest against it. Women went naked in the Aba riot of 1929 to get what they wanted, even though there was bloodshed.  Like a 16 year old been abducted and kept somewhere making babies for somebody somewhere who sells those babies and people go to buy, that is the height of immorality and criminality. The women should come out in large numbers. Pastors’ wives, women in government, women professionals should rise against it. They can invite their counterparts from overseas in this advocacy campaign to stop the ugly crime.

If you are asked to protest nude to fight against this crime would you come from abroad to join the nude protest or form an NGO to fight the crime would you participate?

This is my country and if there is anything I can do to make sure that things worked out well in this country I would do it. I don’t mind going nude to protest against this kind of crime. I have been to overseas and no matter how many years I have been there and even if I’m a citizen of any country, my home is my home. There is no country like home and I‘m proud to be a Nigerian but not when things are like this: violence against children, women, expectant mothers, youths, etc. Children are being abused; youths are used to play politics as thugs, I believe isn’t right.  

On domestic violence in Nigeria by husbands, what is your opinion?

Domestic violence everywhere but the question is- mothers how did you raise your children? I think women has an answer here because, they said charity begins at home. I have three beautiful children and I know how I’m raising them up to be responsible children anywhere they are. My 16 years old son knows that it’s not proper to raise your hands against woman. You start on time to educate them on time and let it permeate their minds on time and they will grow up with it.

The bible said, ‘train up a child the way he supposed to grow and when he is old he will not depart from it.’ so i believe strongly on that and that is my standing order in raising children. Violence against women, children and youths is not acceptable to God. No matter how bad that woman is, there are other ways of settling scores rather than beating a woman. People attribute it to poverty but I don’t believe it.

Are you finally back to Nigeria and if you are to operate an NGO which area would you be your focus?

No, I’m still there and I’m going back next week. I will be looking at women and children, including youth empowerment and advocacy agent because I have passion for these set of people. The vision is to stop violence against them.

The nursing schools are said not to be bringing quality nurses and midwives, what is your assessment of these schools?

For sometimes now, I haven’t visited any of the schools but I do call my friends in the system and it’s not really what it used to be in those days. This time around it’s all about money, things that never used to be. It’s nothing to write home about. It’s a case of having graduate nurses coming out every year but you don’t have a nurse and midwives.

Some of them are going into nurses because of the money though money is part of it but the love and job satisfaction is no longer there. sometimes I visit hospitals with my sister-in-law to anti-natal to see what is happening, each time I go there I don’t feel happy and sometimes I do interview the nurses, how many years have you being in this profession, when they tell me I said no this is not what was obtained in my own time because I observed that that ethics and etiquettes of nursing are dead.

This time, it’s all about fashion, money and money. They don’t do it with passion. It’s only very few hospitals still maintaining the professional midwifery and nursing ethics. You know, that joy that you are attending to people, pregnant women calling you and you are attending to them, playing with them are no longer there. When I graduated, I worked at Borromoeo Hospital Onitsha, Anambra State, and other hospitals including Eleme Hospital and Dr Ezenna Hospital, along Enugu-Onitsha express road, it’s a private hospital, and then things weren’t like this. That was the glorious days of nursing.

Let’s talk about quake or auxiliary (Elizabeth-nurses), nurses taking the job of the professional nurses and midwives, do you have any objection?

There is a huge difference between these nurses and professional ones. A midwife is somebody trained to deliver baby having acquired educational knowledge and a registered person with licence to practice midwifery but your Elizabeth-nurse or the auxiliary nurse are those trained to care for the sick ones.

But this days, I discovered that they overdo it by trying to go the areas that they aren’t trained to go. They try to give injection, administer drugs and they don’t try to check the expiring dates of the drugs and they do it just for the money. I have somebody who is an auxiliary nurse and I know how she practices and it’s funny. They are trained in the hospital and on the job.

My plan is to train auxiliary nurses to a very good standard and equip them with the knowledge deserved for the job. These auxiliary nurses are taking over the nursing business in Nigeria and you know what it is. The problem is that the hospitals go for them because of cheap labour and because they can’t pay the professionals, they rather train their own auxiliary nurses. And I blame the body that monitors the schools and nursing and midwifery professionals because they are not doing their job very well. They should round the hospitals and check how many are professionals. You can’t have 20 nurses and midwives only two are professionals while 18 are auxiliary.