From Joseph Amedu, Lokoja
The Kogi Government has restated commitment to improving healthcare service delivery at Primary Healthcare facilities (PHC) across the state.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr Zakari Usman, gave the assurance in Lokoja during a five-day training for state and local government health workers in Kogi.
Usman said the training, which was sponsored by the World Bank in collaboration with Kogi Government and National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) was to improve the quality of care in PHCs across the state.
He assured that the state government would not rest on its oars at improving the quality of care at facilities to citizens, especially at the grassroots.
He added that “the quality of care is what determines the outcome of treatment; it determines whether we are doing the right thing, improving the treatment outcome or not.
“Quality of care is key, otherwise, we will not be able to assess how well we are doing with our patients.”
The commissioner urged the participants to go back to the grassroots and build a critical mass of healthcare workers who should also have the same knowledge.
In his remarks, the Executive Director of NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shaibu, commended Kogi Government for efforts to improve the quality of healthcare delivery in the state.
Shaibu, who was represented by Dr Tafida Mamman, a member, Monitoring and Evaluation Working Group, National Emergency Maternal and Health Intervention Centre, Abuja, urged the state government to replicate the maternal intervention centres across the state.
According to him, the centres will implement interventions from the the national body.
Dr Hadiya Ahmad, the Programme Manager, State Emergency Maternal and Child Health Intervention Center (SEMCHIC), said each participant would subsequently train five health officers at every health facility under the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF).
She said the renovation of PHCs is ongoing across the state, as well as procurement of drugs to make healthcare affordable and accessible.
Dr Emmanuel Bola, the State Desk Officer and Focal Person of BHCPF, said that the training would bridge the infrastructure and human capacity gaps at the PHCs in the state.
The focal person said that the training was sponsored by World Bank to train the State Technical Team who in turn would mentor the technical officers at the PHC facilities.
According to him, the BHCPF is one per cent consolidated revenue fund to bridge the human and infrastructure capacity gaps in one PHC at every political ward.
The desk officer said the five-day training, which started on Tuesday, would end on Saturday.
The training focused on improving the ‘Quality Of Care’ for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent, And Elderly Health
Plus Nutrition, RMNCAEH+N, targeted at quality healthcare for Kogi people.