About 780 babies have been delivered at a free Specialist Hospital owned by the Omega Power Ministries (OPM) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The Medical Director, Dr. Enighe Ugboma, who spoke on Sunday in a ceremony to mark the second anniversary of the hospital located at Aluu community in Ikwerre Local Government Area, said the facility provides free maternal healthcare services to expectant mothers and new mothers without collecting any fee from them.
He said: “April 17, 2019 marks two years this hospital was inaugurated out of the love OPM General Overseer, Apostle Chibuzor Chinyere has for less privilege and downtrodden in the society
“The hospital during the last two years has registered over 1,448 pregnant women for antenatal care; delivered 780 babies, including two sets of triplets and 23 sets of twins.
“Every service in the hospital is rendered free of charge to pregnant women, including registration, obstetric ultrasound scan, antenatal, consultancy, tests, blood, drugs and vaginal and caesarean deliveries, among others.
“On delivery, every woman is fed daily free of charge while indigent patient is given a delivery pack containing: baby clothes and toiletries”.
Ugboma said the hospital usually gave transport fare to the women after delivery to make their departures from the hospital to their homes easy.
The General Overseer of OPM, Apostle Chibuzor Chinyere, said the hospital was built and run from the offerings and tithes of members of the church.
He said aside the two free specialist hospitals operated in Ohunku, Abia and Port Harcourt, OPM built 15 schools where students and pupils acquired knowledge free of charge
He said: “We have also provided free accommodation to many in our estates and awarded scholarships to hundreds of students to study in both local and foreign universities.
“OPM did all these and many more through the offerings and tithes of members – for the benefit of the less privileged, irrespective of their tribes or religion.”
He added: “So, we decided to build the free hospitals due to the alarming maternal and infant mortality rate in Nigeria.
“We realised that these avoidable deaths are caused partly because many pregnant women and their husbands do not have access to quality antenatal services.
“So, because they cannot afford to go to hospitals to deliver their babies, many pregnant women lose their lives and that of their unborn children due to lack of proper medical care.
“So, we are happy that God is using OPM to touch lives of the people – as the hospital has delivered almost 800 babies in two years of operation,” he added.
Chinyere, however, said the hospital was expensive to run following the cost of operating generators 24 hours daily, to power medical equipment in the facility.
He said it costs the church over N1million monthly to run the generators alone, aside maintenance cost and staff salaries, among others.
He said: “So, we call on the government to immediately support us by restoring electricity back to this area and going by the many lives the hospital saves daily”.
One of the beneficiaries, Saratu Musa, a Moslem and nursing mother of an 11-month-old baby, said she was delivered of her daughter without paying kobo to the hospital.
She said: “The hospital took care of me from antenatal and actual delivery. They even fed me and my baby throughout my admission in the hospital”.
