By Yusuf Oketola
The State of Osun is expected to witness a
boom in child delivery in the next few
months.
According to findings by OSUN DEFENDER, there has been an upsurge in the number of women registering for antenatal sessions in various hospitals since June this year.
This is because more people got pregnant during the lockdown occasioned by the Coronavirus pandemic, investigations have revealed.
From Monday to Thursday, more women and young ladies have been thronging hospitals and maternity centres for antenatal care in places like Osogbo, Ede, Ife, Ikirun, Ilesa and Iree, among others.
A medical worker at one of the public hospitals in Osogbo, Mrs. Yetunde Ayobami, told OSUN DEFENDER that the various health centres had been witnessing large turnout of pregnant women since the first week of June.
Ayobami is of the opinion that the increase in the number of pregnant women is not unconnected with the regular intercourse had by couples and spouses during the one-month lockdown declared by the state government in April.
A population expert, Mr. Gbenga Osungbohun, in an exclusive interview with OSUN DEFENDER, stated that the expected soar in the number of babies in the state is the outcome of the long intimacy of the couples and spouses who were forced to stay at home together because of the Coronavirus.
According to Osungbohun, many couples and young men and ladies in relationship resorted to regular unprotected sex during the lockdown as they were unable to go out for their normal businesses and various endeavours.
He argued that while the rate of pregnancies is expected due to the lockdown, efforts must be made to re-orientate married couples on family planning among varying aspects of birth control to avoid population explosion.
Osungbohun said: “Basically, there would be an increase in the number of children to be born everywhere. You also see increase in number of child abandonment. If you go to motherless babies’ homes, you will see a lot of children to the extent that even Government was clamouring that people should come forward to genuinely claim these children for adoption, so that the oversaturated homes will be relieved.
“Now that COVID-19 has come, people are at ease with each other and natural phenomenon of social attraction also came in. Basically, we are social beings and as social beings we must be attracted to each other. Therefore, people had no choice, so there is bound to be an increase in the number of pregnancies and by extension, the number of children to be born in the coming year.”
Speaking with OSUN DEFENDER, some midwives at the State Government Specialist Hospital, Asubiaro, Osogbo, stated that they had observed notable increase in the number of women registering for antenatal care at the hospital from June this year.
A pregnant woman, Mrs. Abosede Adeyemo, who was interviewed by the medium at a private hospital at Jimoh Ibrahim area of Osogbo disclosed that she got pregnant in May, because of the availability of her husband.
According to Adeyemo, she was able to get her husband close to her during the lockdown and as a result, they spent nice time together, which brought about the pregnancy, which would engender her third child.
A resident of Ikire, Alhaja Taibat Ogunlade, told OSUN DEFENDER that the trend also affected couples who had decided to stop childbearing.
According to Ogunlade, two of her neighbours who had decided not to bear children again got pregnant after the lockdown and decided to keep the pregnancies.