Who’s the real baby of the year?
Kunle Awosiyan
Hundreds of babies are born in Lagos every January 1 but the state government only identifies and celebrates three or four from selected public hospitals as the babies of the year.
Successive first ladies visit three or four hospitals to see babies born at 12.01 midnight of a new year as babies of the year.
There are thousands of private and public maternity centres across the state and critics say this procedure does not give babies in other hospitals a chance to compete, adding that all registered birth centres should be involved.
Our correspondent gathered that all the registered private maternity centres pay taxes and should benefit from the celebration, which of course comes with various gifts to the parents of the new babies and the babies themselves.
Lagos emphasises more on three key hospitals, which include the Ayinke House at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, Massey Children’s Hospital, Lagos Island and Orile Agege General Hospital.
A few years ago, the state expanded the procedure to other Local Government areas where one of the babies of the year had emerged from Badagry Local Government.
However, no private hospital has ever produced baby of the year in Lagos despite that they contribute to the health development of the state.
Operators of private hospitals who spoke with Echonews condemned the state government’s procedure for selecting babies of the year even when the government has always included their records in determining the progress of the health sector.
They argue that most private hospitals do greater number of successful cesarean births, which contribute immensely to low maternal and child mortality rate and that such babies and mothers should have been considered for babies of the year awards.
According to the Permanent Secretary of the State Health Management Agency LASHMA, Dr. Emmanuella Zamba, Lagos state recorded 13,912 cesarean births in four years.
She said that the state recorded 143 multiple births on its Social Health Insurance Plan, popularly known as ILERA EKO since its full take off in Year 2020.
This came as a study revealed that over 80,000 pregnant women died in Nigeria due to pregnancy-related complications in 2020.
The study, “Prevalence, indications, and complications of caesarean section in health facilities across Nigeria: a systematic review and meta-analysis,”was carried out by Itohan Osayande, Olakunmi Ogunyemi , Uchenna Gwacham-Anisiobi , Abimbola Olaniran, Sanni Yaya , Aduragbemi Banke-Thomas shows that if appropriately conducted, caesarean section (CS) reduces the odds of maternal death.
In 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO), in a statement, proposed an optimal national prevalence of CS and recommended the use of Robson classification for classifying and determining intra-facility CS rates.
According to Zamba, since 2020, pregnant women had 44, 231 encounters for ante-natal care and a total of 29,433 births were recorded.
Out of this number, 15,521 births were normal deliveries while 13,912 births including two quadruplets were through cesarean sections (CS).
Dr. Zamba added that the quadruplets were delivered by Mr. and Mrs. Dayo Faniyi at Ikorodu General Hospital as well as Mr. and Mrs. Saka Olayode at Gbagada General Hospital.
Congratulating Mr. Toye Hamid and Mrs Habidat Hamid on the safe delivery of their triplets, the Permanent Secretary described the triplets as gifts from God. She said that the Agency was delighted with the safe delivery of the babies.
Dr. Zamba urged the parents to take proper care of the babies and ensure that the triplets take all their immunizations which are also free on the Health Insurance Plan.
The Permanent Secretary urged residents in the State who are yet to register and enrol on ILERA EKO, to do so immediately especially during this Yuletide Season in order to enjoy the various benefit packages on the Health Insurance Plan and reduce out-of-pocket payment for medical bills.
Dr. Zamba also reiterated the Agency’s flexible payment options and called on residents who could not afford to pay full installments to tap the opportunity of paying small-small by joining ILERA N’TIWA Cooperative which was recently launched by LASHMA.
Speaking with Echonews, Mr. Toye Hamid, a Geologist and unemployed, who is the proud father of the triplets, expressed his gratitude to the Lagos State Government for the love and support shown to his family by LASHMA.
He recounted how his wife, Mrs Habidat Toye, did not pay any money from antenatal care to delivery. He said, “This experience is a miracle. We are deeply thankful to LASHMA for making the journey stress-free for my family. With the premium paid, nothing was paid again at the hospital for my wife’s antenatal and delivery. Everything was covered”.
The mother of the triplets, Mrs. Habidat Hamid, who initially had three children before the delivery of the triplets, also appreciated Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the Permanent Secretary of LASHMA, Dr. Emmanuella Zamba, for the benefits she enjoyed under ILERA EKO.
Mrs. Toye narrated that she heard about ILERA EKO during her antenatal care after being overwhelmed with unexpected Hospital bills. She said that her brother-in-law told them about the scheme, and they decided to register.
She added that although the family was expecting twins, it was only when the surgery was done that they were aware that the babies were triplets. Mrs. Toye said, “I am amazed that we did not pay any money at all for either the twins that we are expecting or for the additional baby. I thank God for bringing us to Lagos to enjoy this wonderful Health Insurance.”
She appealed to politicians, eminent personalities, and philanthropists to support this initiative of the Lagos State Government to ensure that residents who could not afford to pay medical bills also have access to affordable and quality healthcare services. She said, “If not for ILERA EKO, where will we get the money for my antenatal and delivery, especially as my husband is still looking for a job after getting to Lagos this year?”
Mrs. Toye urged Lagos residents to enrol as ILERA EKO would save them from spending outrageously on medical expenses.
The triplets’ grandmother, Mrs. Moriamo Odeseye, from Oyo State, gave kudos to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and commended the Agency for relieving her children from running helter-skelter to pay the medical bills.
Another study, “”Caesarean section–an appraisal of some predictive factors in Lagos by
Oluwarotimi Ireti Akinola , Adetokunbo O Fabamwo, Adetokunbo O Tayo, Kabiru A Rabiu, Yusuf A Oshodi, Mercy E Alokha shiws that there were 641 deliveries with 257 of them by caesarean section (40.1%) in 2014.
Logistic regression analysis showed that parity, booking status, maternal height; maternal weight, birth weight, previous caesarean section and ante-partum bleeding were significant predictive factors for caesarean section while maternal age was not.
The study called for the study of the various predictive factors in antenatal counseling to facilitate acceptance by at risk women and early referral.
