By Jennifer John
Primary Health Care is the first point of call in the issue of health care. It is arguably the most important area of health care because it deals directly with the masses at the grassroots.
Primary Health Care Development is an sector which any government worth its onus should never joke with.
Meanwhile, it is a fact that past governments in the state, especially the immediate past administration paid lip service to the primary health care sector, allowing primary health care centres scattered across rural communities of the state to witness a dangerous level of dilapidation.
However, the 3R Government, as part of its core mission of Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Recovery has stepped in to reconstruct, rehabilitate and recover all primary health care infrastructures, facilities and equipment across the state.
The 3R Monitor having witnessed a lot improvement and revolution in this critical sector of the state socio economic sector, in its quest to get more insight about developments in the sector, the 3R Monitor sought further information and clarification from the Executive Secretary of the agency, Rev. Sis. Joannes Uzoma.
Fielding questions from the 3R Monitor on achievements of the government of Senator Hope Uzodimma, through the the agency, she said the agency was established to take care of the health of Imo people, especially those in the rural areas. She said the agency was supposed to coordinate all activities in the primary health facilities, which is supposed to be the first port of call for any person needing health care.
According to her, it is when the primary health care facilities are not able to take care of the cases that they are referred to the secondary facilities which is the General Hospitals and if it grows above the capacity of secondary facilities, they are referred to the tertiary facilities. She however regretted that in Nigeria, the pyramid is reversed.
“The agency is here to ensure that the health facilities are working well and that they are doing what they are meant to do, by reaching out to those needing health care, especially at the rural areas. That is why the agency is set up, to coordinate activities of the health facilities in Imo State.
On how effectively she has been able to implement these core mandate of the agency since her assumption of office, the Executive Secretary had these to say: “I will tell you that since we came, a lot of achievements and improvements have been made.
“First and foremost, let me inform you that by the time assumed duty, the agency was in a rented apartment, but by the goodwill of His Excellency, the Governor of Imo State, who is bent on making sure that primary health work in the state, he had to bring us to this place and I think Imo State now has the best Primary Health Care Agency in Nigeria. It is one good thing that has happened.
“Also when we came, we didn’t have any vehicle and you know we cannot do the work which includes supportive supervision, without a means of transportation. His Excellency again donated two Hilux Vans to the agency. He also gave us a Coaster bus and a Hiace bus and also an ambulance, all geared towards making the work of the agency easy.
“He did not stop there. He went ahead and mandated that each of the three hundred and five INEC Wards in the state must have a functional primary health care facility and he is working hard to ensure that that goal is achieved. He embarked in renovation spree of all primary health care facilities in all the wards across the state. The renovation work is ongoing. Some have gotten funding and work is progressing and a very few are yet to kick-off, there is no doubt that the governor going to fulfill his promise to ensure that the 305 facilities got renovated and become functional.
“The state of the facilities before this renovation started, was such that if you go there, you wouldn’t like to take anything from there. Many of them were in extreme level of deplorable condition. To actually give it a facelift, it means that we have to invest so much and the governor is committed to do just that for the benefit of the masses.
“Also when we finish with the structures. The governor is going to look into the manpower. For now we have engaged eighty Staff Nurse Midwives to work at the facilities. There is also what is called CHIPS Programme (Community Health Influencer and Promoter Persons) programme, a national programme which Imo State has bought into and have started implementing. The job of the officials is to go from house to house, checking on people, and when they find any person that is sick, they will encourage such person to go and seek medical care. We are going to give them a bag full of drugs, so when they meet people with minor issues they can offer remedial medicines while encouraging them to go and seek help from the health centre nearby.
“So they will be sort of intermediary between the primary health facilities and the indigenes of the communities”.
On the affordability of the services of the health care centres, judging by the poverty level of people in the rural areas, Rev. Sis Uzoma said there is a Basic Health Care Provision Fund, a partnership of the federal and state governments, which two hundred and thirty nine facilities in the state have qualified to benefit from.
“We are working towards making it three hundred and five because they want it on the basis of one centre per Ward. So we are trying to get the remaining facilities onboard. Once that is done, we will put them up for reassessment and hopefully we will get the three hundred and five facilities and we will qualify for the Basic Health Care Fund, which will enable the health centres to be getting money for the procurement of drugs every quarter, to help make their services affordable”.
On the reception of the new development, the clergywoman said, “The people are so happy about it, because the governor called the traditional rulers, town union executives and community stakeholders and had series of meetings with them before the renovation work was kick-started. The funds for the renovation was handed over to the local government Chairmen, the councillors and the community Health Officers, as signatories to the bank account where the funds were lodged.
“He wanted it to be a community thing, so the communities are in-charge of the renovation exercise. He made it so, for the process to be cheap, easy and transparent”.
She said the state government also set up a health insurance programme for the vulnerable persons in the state; The elderly, reproductive mothers, children and the poorest of the poor.
According to her, thousands of Imolites have been enrolled to enable them obtain health care services from any state primary health care facilities free of charge.
On how people are enrolled into the scheme, she said the agency involves traditional leaders and town union leadership to help in enrolling the beneficiaries.
“We send the forms to them. They are the ones who know who is who in their communities. They give out the forms to people who fall into the categories to fill and return to them, while they in turn return the forms to us. We are targeting about eighty (80) persons per Ward, from the three hundred and five (305) INEC Wards in the state. We are still capturing the beneficiaries”.
On the challenges confronting the agency, the Executive Secretary pointed out inadequate manpower. She said there is also need to implement a programme known as primary health care under one roof, which she said the government was making frantic effort to implement, as according to her, the primary health care under one roof entails bringing all the workers at various segments of the primary health care under one umbrella and under one leadership, to give room for easy coordination of activities.
According to the Executive Secretary, when the primary health care under one roof is fully implemented in the state, it will open doors for the influx of international partners and donor agencies to the state, because they believe that areas where the programme is in place, they are sure of where their fund is going. They know that it is only one control and if if the fund/donation they made is misused, they know who to pin down.
SHe appreciated the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) which have been doing a lot in the state, adding that they have a limited programmes they support and are in-charge of their funds.
“All the immunization we carry out in the state, UNICEF takes care of them. Without them, I don’t know what we would have done. They pay the adhoc staff and all the people that participate in the activities. The WHO is in-charge of training. They train all staff, both adhoc who participate in the immunization and other health campaigns. Whenever there is health care activity requiring training, they take care of it.
Finally Sis Uzoma advised Imolites, especially the less privileged in the rural areas to always look out for health campaign programmes carried out by the state government and its national and international allies, which she said is mostly free of charge and designed to take care of their primary health care benefits.