No fewer than 1600 women with obstetric fistula have undergone surgeries to resolve the conditions under the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) Fistula-Free Programme (FFP) initiative of the Federal Government.

Head, Standards and Quality Assurance Unit of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Dr Saka Agboola, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ilorin yesterday.

Agboola said the Federal Government initiative aimed to provide free surgeries, rehabilitation, and health insurance coverage for women with obstetric fistula. He added: “The government realises that the number of Fistula centres in the country were very few, hence the need to increase it to 18 nationwide.

“With this initiative, over 1600 cases of Fistula has been resolved.” Agboola said Nigeria was on a mission to reduce the health status of 400,000 Nigerian women with obstetric fistula in the country by reducing the maternal and neonatal mortality.

NAN reports that Fistula is an abnormal connection or hole between two organs or vessels that should not be connected. Among such is obstetric fistula, which occurs between the vagina and bladder (vesicovaginal fistula) or rectum (rectovaginal fistula).