1 July 2008
Chairman House Committee on MDGs, Hon. Saadatu Sani, says a committee will be set up to harmonise health bills that are still pending at the Federal House of Representatives.
Announcing the plan at a dinner held for members of the National Assembly in Abuja by Ipas, an NGO that promotes the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women, Sani said the essence of the harmonization is to have a comprehensive health bill that will be presented to the House for consideration and passage into law.
She added that the committee will be made up of members of the National Assembly, Civil Society Groups, Federal Ministry of Health, NGOs, International Organizations, including Ipas.
The committee will lobby and galvanize other relevant groups as well as ensure that the bill is passed while regretting that the CEDAW Bill was not passed and that it was shut down by people, including women who aught to have favored its passage into law.
In her view, there is still need to domesticate CEDAW so that Nigerian women will enjoy an improved reproductive health and rights regime.
On maternal deaths, she said that the number of women dying from pregnancy related causes had become a worrisome development that informed her decision to be part of efforts to reverse the trend.
On abortion, the House Chairman said there is a need to find an alternative name because the word makes people, including the parliamentarians uncomfortable.
She observed that the general interpretation of abortion is that it is the "voluntary removal of pregnancy"whereas it is not so. Sani encouraged Ipas and other relevant organizations to look for an alternative word that will be more acceptable.
She also said that efforts at reducing the high maternal deaths in Nigeria and the challenge posed by shortage of medical personnel should include the exposure of nurses and midwives to refresher courses.
Sani noted that Nigerian women will keep dying if there is a dearth of medical personnel to work in the new or rehabilitated hospitals and primary health care facilities being built by the government.
Also speaking, Chairman, House Committee on Health, Dr. Patrick Asadu, assured that a harmonized health bill will be ready for presentation in the next three months.
He said that Ipas will be invited to a larger gathering of members of the House of Representatives to make presentation on the reality of maternal mortality in Nigeria..
Asadu encouraged Ipas to buy into efforts geared towards seeking solutions to "bigger"health challenges facing the country so as to use it as a platform for passing information on the reality of maternal mortality in Nigeria.
Asadu also advised Ipas to go into collaborations, recruit change agents from the legislature and spend more time on mass mobilization for the creation of awareness on the high maternal deaths in the country.
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