By Kemi Olatunde
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Medical Record Officers of health facilities in Ondo State have been charged to capture data accurately in order to reduce  maternal and child morbidity and mortality.

The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Wahab Adegbenro gave this charge at a one day training for Medical Record Officers of Secondary Health facilities in Akure.

According to him, the training will help participants  put down data correctly which will assist the state in saving more lives in the long run.

The training which is in batches according to the commissioner will be extended to private  health facilities which accounts for about 25 percent caregivers in the state thus giving  the state accurate data that can be used to achieve the desired reduction in maternal and child morbidity and mortality.

In her goodwill message, Mrs Margret Kuduyo of the Rotary Club International, sponsor and initiator of an e-platform for capturing medical data that is easily retrieveable, commended medical officers in the state for doing a good job since the e-platform started, pledging  the support of Rotary Club to  the aid of the state when ever they are called upon.

The Director, National Population Commission, Mr Oluyemi Falusi commended the government for the training which he said is key  to the  initiative, and prayed that it succeeds as it will help the commission  have accurate record of maternal and perinatal deaths.

The State Programme Manager, Saving One Million lives for Results and sponsor of the training, Dr Abiola Oguneneka said reducing maternal and child mortality and morbidity is the whole essence of SOML and added that  the training is very important to them as the success of the Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance Response will  help SOML achieve its objectives.

The State Desk Officer for Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance Response (MPDSR), Dr Olajumoke Aladenoola who did an overview of MPDSR and the objective of the training said the programme which started as Confidential Inquiry into Maternal Deaths in Ondo (CEMDOS ) is to identify number of  deaths,causes and provide information on how to prevent future occurrence.

She added that a bill was passed into law under the  last administration mandating all health facilities in the state to report all maternal deaths within 24 hours, but which health facilities have failed to comply with.

The State National Health Information Officer and Rotary Consultant ,Mrs Dorcas Johnson who took participants on the  topics  rationale for and  lessons learnt since adoption of electronic platform for MPDSR  trained participants on the use of the platform and registered them.

In his address of welcome, the Acting Permanent Secretary Ministry of Health, Dr Dipo Durojaye said in view  of the fact that data collection is one of the key pillars of Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance Response programme the electronic platform will create an avenue to capture the MPDSR data  that will be accurate and easily retrievable.