From Abdull-Azeez Ahmed Kadir, Kano.
Kaduna State is ranked the best with primary health care in the country, having scaled through some effective and efficient stages for providing functional primary health care amongst other states.
The chairman of the governing board of Kaduna State Primary Health Care Management Board, Dr. Sani Muhammad Jibril, stated this while fielding questions from journalists during the State Primary Health Care Governing Board SPHCB orientation meeting held at R&K Guest Palace Hotel Nassarawa GRA Kano State facilitated by Save the Children International.
Dr Jibril said the State Government has done much by providing functional primary health care facilities in all the 23 local government areas and the 255 political wards in the state, with one functional PHC per ward called Ward Health System – first of its kind in Nigeria.
“We are very aware of the Primary Health Care Under One-Roof PHCUOR. What we are saying now is, we are going to have one management, one plan and one monitory evaluation”- he said.
He stressed that amongst the objectives set by the board is to orient the members of the governing board on their functions, duties and responsibilities as well as to discuss other management issues as part of the need to prepare and provide them with needed tools and the knowledge to effectively support the coordination for primary health care system in Kaduna State.
“Previously the Primary health care in the state were kind of scattered, fragmented and disintegrated. But now we’re practicing primary health care under one roof which is essentially new to most of them, that is essentially what we are doing now”. Jibril Said.
On his part a member of the board Alhaji Ahmad Iya from Dangote Foundation, said the meeting will give the board the opportunity to socialize, interact and also plan for what they want to do, and also give them the opportunity to set target within a short period.
On her part, Mrs. Ruth Jummai Ango, member representing zone 3 senatorial district Kaduna State and board member, Kaduna Primary Health Care System Board, said funding is among the issues bedeviling the PHC in Kaduna State.
“One of the major challenge has to do with funding. Actually, Kaduna State is very lucky, despite the challenges we had, where the state government is equally contributing to support the local government, the state government is contributing to them while the local governments give 60%”.
Mr. Ifedilechukwu Ikene Innocent, the advocacy campaign and policy manager for Save The Children International emphasized the need for community participation in primary health care system.
“What we want to see at Save The Children, is to improve more in the community participation angle. We want to see a situation where the community has to participate, to see things that are not good in each facilities and services are able to improve.”
Innocent also stressed that they are working on some projects that will create an enabling environment for the community to be aware of their role for effective and efficient service delivery in the state.
