Kwara govt tasked on primary health care delivery –

The non-governmental organization (NGO) Connected Development (CODE) praised the Kwara government’s efforts to improve healthcare delivery in the state, while urging the state government to improve healthcare delivery.

State head of the group Kehinde Akinsola said Dr Nusirat Elelu of Ilorin when presenting the findings of the random survey on the status of primary health care service (PHC) centers in Kwara State to the executive secretary of the State Primary Health Care Development Authority.

Akinsola said CODE aims to amplify grassroots voices, adding that it is one of the implementing partners of the COVID-19 Transparency and Accountability Project (CTAP).

CTAP is a multi-stakeholder project focused on advocating for stronger health systems and healthcare accountability in Africa, he said.

“Today, we are here to present the results of our random survey of the status of 29 primary healthcare services (PHCs) in Kwara.

“Out of the 16 LGAs, we visited 10 LGAs, four in Kwara Central and Kwara South and two LGAs in Kwara North.

“We found that some PHCs had poor toilet facilities, lacked proper waste disposal alternatives, and some were understaffed as we encountered one or two workers in some centres.

“Our findings are based on the 29 PHCs interviewed and we just want the government to be more responsive and accountable to the needs of the people,” he said.

In a response, health agency executive secretary Dr Nusirat Elelu criticized the methods used to conduct the survey, saying the team only visited 29 of the more than 500 PHCs in the state.

Elelu applauds the group’s efforts in finding areas for needs assessment in PHCs and across the health sector.

However, she said that insufficient funding for research, research and statistics is a major obstacle to finding durable solutions to provide accessible healthcare in Nigeria.

She said the new primary care standard is that every ward should have at least one fully functional and accessible PHC facility, a requirement that the Kwara government has met.

“I applaud the Kwara state government for improving the healthcare services provided to the people of the state. It was not like this in the past.

“While I appreciate the statistics and the apparent policy changes that follow, I would like to appeal to NGOs, philanthropists and corporate organizations to sponsor surveys and donate to meet needs.

“The donation of commendable facilities such as toilets, borehole sinks, waste disposal alternatives and provision of personal items will complement the government’s efforts to improve healthcare delivery in the state; the government cannot do it alone,” Elelu said.

Akinsola also said on the sidelines of his speech: “While the Kwara State agency’s executive secretary pointed out errors in our statistics and methodology, one of our wins was that we were able to amplify the voices of the Tanke community in Ilorin South. Bad situation, we are glad to hear that the government shut down the PHC because it did not take care of people’s health.

“Another win for us is that we were able to amplify the voice of Apado PHC health workers in East Ilorin who are community paid volunteers and part-time workers.

“We are delighted to hear that this woman has been offered a permanent job in the state.

“That’s what we’re pushing, that’s our goal; amplifying the voices of the grassroots, that’s what code is about.

“We want the government to focus on what we can bring out of these 29 PHCs because we know the government can’t do it all at once, but we want them to start being accountable to the people.

“We think we are still in for better days with Kwara offering PHC services,” Akinsola said.

read also nigerian tribune

Kwara government is responsible for providing primary health care

Kwara government is responsible for providing primary health care