The Chief Medical Director of Ebonyi State Government House Clinic, Dr Richard Nnabo has encouraged couples who cannot give birth due to one reason or the other to embark on on surrogacy.
Dr Nnabo said while addressing Journalists on the importance of surrogacy in Abakaliki the Ebonyi State capital.
Nnabo said surrogate saves someone of embarrassment of not having a child.
“Surrogacy is what we know as the process of aiding reproduction in a family through a third party involvement. It occurs when couple may not be able to achieve pregnancy on their own not necessarily because they cannot achieve it but because of one health reasons or the other,” Nnabo said.
The public health physician said the practice is not a common one in Nigeria because of religion and cultural practice but very common in developed countries.
“Surrogate is done by harvesting the sperm cell of a man and ovaries of a woman and implant it in another woman’s uterus who may be called the third party, such woman may carry the pregnancy for like mine months and at the end, would deliver and hand over the baby to the actual parents,” he added.
He said there is no law backing this practice in Nigerian.
“If any arises from such practice in terms of who biologically own the baby, the only way to solve the issue is paternity test,” he explained.
He advised couples who are having challenges in child bearing to feel free in embarking on surrogacy.
OTHER HEALTH ISSUES
The public health physician also advised the general public to drink a lot of water more especially now that heat is everywhere in West Africa subregion.
“You must take at least three litres of water every day to stay healthy,” he explained.
He advised all Nigerians to ensure that their environments are airy to avoid disease associate with heat like meningitis and other related diseases.
The medical Expert also urged all Nigerians to eschew handshakes and other body contacts to help in curbing the spread of COVID 19 and other viral diseases.
Also a Laboratory Scientist in the Clinic Mr Simeon Ituma urged people to maintain general cleanliness as that would help to live a healthy life.
