Pattern of Obstetric Clinic Attendance, Deliveries and Neonatal Outcome at a Tertiary Hospital during and after a Free Medical Care Programme

Background: Policies and programs aimed at giving access to healthcare free of charge for some segments of the population are increasingly being put in place by low and middle-income countries. The impact of such policies has so far been rather mixed. Objective: This study sought to determine the pattern of obstetrics clinic attendance, deliveries and neonatal outcome during and after a Free Medical Care (FMC) Programme. Was there any significant difference during and after the FMC programme? Methodology: This was a retrospective population-based study involving the three years of a free medical care programme (2012-2014) and the three years after the programme (2015-2017). Data on antenatal/postnatal clinic attendance, method of deliveries and neonatal outcome were retrieved from the hospital records. The Epi-Info 7 statistical software was used for analysis and statistical significance was set at p