A 25-year-old mother of six children,
Mrs. Patience Abantelhe, has accepted to embrace a family planning
technique after she was delivered of quadruplets.
The babies, who weigh 1.7, 1.7, 1.2 and
1.3 kilograms respectively are currently in an incubator at the hospital
and are the third, fourth, fifth and sixth children of the Abantelhe,
who already have two children.
Southern City News learnt on Tuesday
that Abantelhe’s desire to embrace family planning technique was
influenced by the Director-General of the Cross River State Primary
Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Betta Edu, who visited her in the
hospital.
Abantelhe was delivered of three boys
and one girl last Friday at the Sacred Heart Hospital in Obudu, Cross
River State through a caesarean session.
She had said that she would no longer wish to have more babies.
In a message related to Southern City
News by the director-general after the visit, Abantelhe said, “I know
about family planning and I will do it before I leave the hospital, I do
not want any other children now.”
However, Edu said the economic situation in Nigeria called for a review of family planning techniques.
She stressed that the mother of six might face some level of hardship because she was jobless while the husband was a carpenter.
The director-general also urged parents to adopt family planning technique so as to reduce maternal mortality rate in Nigeria.
She said countries where the technique was imbibed had a low rate of mother/child death after delivery.
Edu said, “Just five days ago, a woman
in the northern senatorial district of the state delivered quadruplet,
she already has six children while the husband is a carpenter and she is
a full time housewife.
“Family planning is like a vaccine for
maternal mortality. If there is family planning, there is the likelihood
of reducing maternal mortality. If we imbibe family planning, this
maternal mortality that is getting too high in Nigeria will be reduced.
“Again, family planning will help them
manage their situation economically considering what Nigeria is going
through. If women can embrace family planning, they can take good care
of the few children they have.”