Women Who Give Birth In Govt Hospitals Will Get Delivery Pack, N500 – Ikpeazu

Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State says women who give birth in government health facilities in the southeast state will get N500 and a delivery pack. 

According to him, the move became important since access to quality healthcare is not cheap.

“Abia State has keyed into the basic health insurance for pregnant women. If you put to bed in any of our primary healthcare centres, you get N500,” the governor told Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday.

“Delivery is free; they give you a delivery pack and they give N500 which is running for the vulnerable members of the society.”

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The governor, who further defended the move, said it is targeted at vulnerable and poor people and that the delivery pack contains items needed to take care of newborn babies.

“But if you want a certain level of medicare, you should be able to pay,” Ikpeazu noted, adding: “Are you asking a poor woman what she will do with N500? Some people don’t have it.”

While the money may be seen as little, the governor maintained that “at least it will pay their way back home.”

The Way To Go

Governor Ikpeazu, who also spoke about the non-payment of salaries to resident doctors in the state, noted that his government is doing its best to improve healthcare.

“If you are running a hospital and you want to get paid, the way to go is not to stay at home or to take away patients that come to those hospitals to your private clinic,” Ikpeazu stated but conceded that people deserve their wages.

“The way to go is for you to work. The government will do two things:  not only paying salaries because paying you without equipment will amount to not giving the people optimum service. So, I said I was going to provide equipment.”