Uchenna Inya ABAKALIKI 
About 100 Visco Vaginal Fistula (VVF) patients from 17 southern states of the country and Benue State are currently undergoing repairs and rehabilitations at the National Obstetric Fistual Centre Abakaliki (NOFIC), Ebonyi State. Medical Director of the centre, Professor Johnson Obuna stated this at the hospital during a flag off pool-effort fistula repair campaign of the centre.
Obuna noted that the pooeffort repairs which was being co-sponsored by wife of the Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, Rachael and a Gender unit of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, Fistula foundation and NOFIC was free of charge.
He noted that a team from the Ministry was already in the state to take details of the patients with a view to knowing how to rehabilitate, empower them and identify one of the major causes of obstetric fistula as poor or default obstetric services.
According to him, many women due to poverty or ignorance on how to access standard obstetric services resorted to quacks or deliver at home with obstetric fistula as a result of absent or poorly supervised labour.
Obuna said: “Currently, we are observing ugly and worrisome trends where poorly done Caesarean section is increasing becoming the commonest cause of obstetric fistula in our southern region. We have also observed that some of the successfully repaired and rehabilitated patients who got pregnant again still present with recurrent fistula because they still resorted to quack for delivery of their babies.
“Until COVID-19 disruption of services, activities and movement of which Nigeria and Ebonyi state are included, an average of 15 fistula cases is repaired weekly in this centre.
So far from 2008 till date, about 4,000 obstetric fistula patients have been treated free in this centre. We have also operated about 3,000 uterine prolapse cases.”
“Here, we offer free antenatal and delivery services including free Caesarean section to all successfully repaired patients who are pregnant and who wish to deliver in our centre, while we offer antenatal and delivery services as well as new born services at a very subsidized costs to the general public, especially the indigent in order to discourage them from seeking maternity services from untrained and poorly trained birth attendants.”
