BY CHIOMA OHANAECHE
Local Government Chairmen in Edo State have signed a pact with officials of the State Ministry of Health and Primary Health Development Agency to transform Primary Health Centres, PHCs in their localities.
They signed the agreement at the Edo Shine PHC Summit held in Benin City.
Declaring the summit open, Governor Monday Okpehoblo charged stakeholders to come up with evidence based solutions that would serve as a roadmap in strengthening primary health care and accelerating Universal Health Coverage.
Represented by the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Cyril Oshiomhole , the Governor explained that the summit underscored a shared responsibility and commitment of all key stakeholders to invest in PHCs and prevent epidemics, upscale immunization, maternal and child services as well as digital innovation.
In a keynote address, entitled “The role of Strategic Leadership In Universal Health Coverage: From Policy to Local Action:;” a Professor in Public Health, University of Benin, Professor Andrew Obi gave a trajectory view of government performance from 2016 to 2026.
He expressed satisfaction with the health sector in Edo state which had witnessed health reforms including Health Insurance Scheme, improved budgetary allocation, curtailing of outbreaks and better disease surveillance system.
Professor Obi however stressed that more still needed to be done in meeting the 2030 vision for PHCs which includes upgrading facilities to run 24hours operations, and meeting the 15 percent budgetary allocation to health.
The Executive Secretary, Edo State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Coulson Osoikhia explained that the summit was geared towards incorporating local government chairmen into the PHC administration as stipulated in the constitution.
A representative of the World Bank, Dr Onoriode Ezire applauded Edo State for its performance in the World Bank IMPACT Project which revitalised sixty-one primary health centres across the state.
Dr. Ezire charged the local government chairmen to sustain the gains made by the Project by driving human resource management, ensuring PHC facilities meet quality standards and addressing financial constraints.
Chairman, Association of Local Government of Nigeria , ALGON , Mr Sunday Ekpetika pledged their commitment to universal health coverage at their localities and promised to renovate five pHcs in each council.
Mr Ekpetika however appealed to the ministry of health to seek the services of the local chairmen when employing health workers, regretting that many of them eventually leave the communities to work in urban areas.
There were different panel discussions on improving the standard of PHCs.
