Abiodun pledges to boost healthcare delivery in Ogun
The Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, has reiterated the commitment of his administration to changing the narrative of poor healthcare delivery across the state.
Abiodun said that his administration particularly recognised the roles of well equipped and functional primary healthcare centres in providing accessible and affordable healthcare delivery and has therefore invested so much resources in rehabilitating quite a lot of them to boost their capacity for optimal performance.
The governor, who was represented by the Commissioner for Health, Dr Tomi Coker, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abeokuta, the state capital, while declaring open the 41st Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria.
Abiodun said, “In Ogun State, we are committed to repositioning our primary health care as a foundation for an effective and resilient health care system. We recognize that primary health care is the gateway to achieving universal health coverage.
“We however acknowledge the challenges that persist. The funding constraint, inadequate human resources, and socioeconomic disparities which pose a threat to the public health efforts that are being made members of the Public Health Association.”
The governor said a forum such as the annual conference of the public health physicians provides an opportunity for robust discussion that could throw up innovative solutions and actionable policies that will help to navigate and overcome the identified challenges.
Speaking earlier, the President of Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria, Prof Alphonsus Isara, called for the effective implementation of primary healthcare practice to boost healthcare delivery in the country
Isara said that to improve on the healthcare delivery in the country, there is a need for all actors in the system to go back to the basis and start from the grassroots.
He has, therefore, called for the appointment of qualified Medical Officers with Public Health training (MOHs) to lead the health team across the 774 local governments in the country for optimal health care delivery in Nigeria.
He said that the current situation where only about 40% of LGAs in Nigeria have medically qualified MOHs is, to say the least, not acceptable.
The association also used the medium to call for the establishment of the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine in all secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities in Nigeria.
He explained that having these departments in the hospitals will go a long way to enhance the level of preparedness to tackle the menace of the rising incidence of both communicable and noncommunicable diseases in the country.
Isara said that the AGM will witness election of new leadership for the association while issues such as the rising incidence of substance use among young persons in Nigeria, how to prioritise mental primary health care in Nigeria among others would be on the table for discussion.
The Ogun state Chairman of APHPN, Dr Adewale Adesanya while giving his remarks lamented the shortage of health personnel in the country due to japa syndrome calling on the government to recruit more hands to cut down on the impact of this challenge.
Adesanya also urged the government to improve on the state of the country’s economy and also be more committed to improve on the conditions of service for the health workers so that the few left behind will also not be tempted to abandon the country for a greener pasture very soon.
