Ogun Targets 15,000 Pregnant Women For Free Maternal Healthcare

The Ogun State government is targeting 15,000 pregnant women as beneficiaries of its free delivery programme tagged “Ibidero” as part of measures put in place to improve the state’s maternal mortality index.

Commissioner for Health, Dr. Tomi Coker, disclosed this in Abeokuta while speaking to newsmen on the new scheme.

She said the initiative is a health insurance scheme of the state targeted at vulnerable indigent pregnant women across the 20 local government areas of the state.

Coker said through the programme,  enrolled pregnant women would have access to free maternal health services at their assigned health centers to reduce the risk of complications during or after pregnancy.

She added that “Ibidero” was designed to include a conditional cash transfer whereby the pregnant women captured on the programme gets a stipend after delivering their babies at their assigned health facility.

Each beneficiary would be registered in hospitals within a walking distance to their homes, she added.

“Last year, 3,000 pregnant women benefitted from the pilot phase of the programme. As a consequence, His Excellency, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has graciously approved the scale up of the programme to 15,000 beneficiaries,” she said.

Dr. Coker further disclosed that about 300 public and private health facilities at the primary and secondary levels have been enlisted for the programme.