By CHIOMA OBINNA

ON this year’s International Women’s Day, President of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, has called on the National Assembly and other legislative institutions to expedite action on all pro-women legislations currently receiving attention in order to deal with various sources of pain to the Nigerian woman.

Describing the women as a vessel for continuity of life, Osahon said  the Bill for an Act to criminalise all forms of violence against women, such as rape and Female Genital Mutilation; promotion of effective Maternal and Child health including Reproductive Health Rights of Women and effective immunisation require urgent action.

He said all discriminatory policies and hostilities against women should be discarded while more women-friendly policies be enacted and implemented.

“NMA most remarkably salutes the unrivalled support, unfailing affection and unwavering loyalty of the Nigerian woman exemplified by Nigeria’s First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan and other women who have in no mean magnitude demonstrated unequivocal support and faithfulness to their spouses in various positions of authority in Nigeria.

“The NMA is also quite appreciative of the nobility and grace of Nigerian medical women, who through sheer hard work and unequalled doggedness combine the arduous task of family upkeep with the doctrinal role of patient care,” he added.