Health agency boss urges Kwara government to bridge infrastructure, human resource gaps in health sector

The Executive Secretary of the Kwara State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Nusirat Elelu, has urged the state government to work harder to bridge the gaps in human resources and infrastructure in the state’s health sector

Mrs Elelu made the advice on Wednesday while briefing the State Executive Council on the state of primary healthcare in the state.

He said while the administration of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has recorded some successes, much still has to be done in the sector.

The official said the primary healthcare sub-sector was plagued by a general collapse of infrastructure, non-payment of counterpart funds and withdrawal of development partners, poor demand for primary healthcare services, lack of coordination between the state and local government areas, and poor data quality and availability.

She said the current administration has resolved most of the challenges, but it can do more, especially in the areas of infrastructure and human resources for health. She commends the recent recruitment exercise and the state government’s approval of N70,000 as the minimum wage.

“We have made significant strides, regardless. For instance, 31 PHCs have been completely renovated by the state, with several others at different stages of renovation. We now have at least one functional PHC in all the 193 wards as against previously when seven wards didn’t have a PHC,” she said.

“In addition, five PHCs are currently undergoing renovation with funds from the PHC leadership challenge award won by the state in 2023. Additionally, 111 PHCs are going to be renovated under the BHCPF and World Bank PHC Revitalisation programme. There has also been solarisation of 16 LGA central cold stores to improve cold chain capacity for vaccination. Furthermore, a total of 79 boreholes have been sunk in the PHCs in the state, while 79 outreach vans and 89 motorcycles have been purchased to increase PHC services delivery to our hard-to-reach settlements. 16 ambulances were also deployed to improve emergency care at the LGA.”

Mrs Elelu said the outcomes have been positive, with Kwara having one of the highest ante-natal care coverage in Nigeria.

“In 2023, a total of 620,925 pregnant women attended ANC, compared to 94,276 pregnant women in 2020 (DHIS2),” she said.

“There was over 220% increase in the number of deliveries between 2020 and 2023 as PHCs were the preferred place of delivery, showing improved confidence in our health system. General hospital attendance has also improved tremendously, with over 1.3 million Kwarans attending PHCs in each of the last four years.

“There has been a huge reduction from 1,508 to 570 (62.2%) pregnant women reported with severe anaemia. Kwara State emerged as the overall best state in the country, with over 117% coverage of children aged 9-14 years during the HPV vaccination this year. In January 2023, Kwara was awarded the overall best in supplemental polio outbreak response (OBR) in the country.”

She said there have also been high-quality supplemental immunisation campaigns, and the state has been consistently green in all WHO-conducted Lot Quality Assurance surveys (LQAs) in the last two years, with over 1.5 million children vaccinated in each round.

Lawal Olohungbebe, the senior special adviser to the governor on community development, also told the council that community-based organizations were being mobilised for grassroots empowerment and development.

He said the interventions from January included the installation of 60 solar-powered poles in different parts of the state and the distribution of social protection materials worth billions of naira. These included rice palliatives, 42,000 bags of fertilisers to 11,000 farmers, 18,000 bags of maize and sorghum to 3,000 households, construction of 20 smart toilets to curb open defecation, sinking of 20 boreholes to selected settlements, and distribution of grants to 498 communities across the state.

Mr Olohungbebe noted that the state recently held a CBO Summit, which brought together 901 organisations.

He added that a KWATRECO initiative trained young people to fix some public facilities without burdening the government.

Citing global best practices, Mr Olohungbebe urged the government to introduce a legal framework to guide bodies operating in the state, a special economic scheme for persons living with disabilities, a rural infrastructure maintenance scheme to tackle the challenge of keeping public facilities in good shape, and an every-ward-matters initiative, among others.

Cabinet members took turns debating the presentations, including the question of whether the current local government autonomy serves the best interest of workers and the people at the grassroots.

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Governor Abdul Razak commended the presentations and urged council members to submit to the Office of the Secretary to the State Government their proposals on different interventions that could further drive good governance and citizen engagement.

He said the state government made all the infrastructural interventions at the PHCs and basic schools, as the local councils have fallen short in that regard for decades due to a lack of funds.

The governor said the government is committed to making more investments to strengthen infrastructure and human resources in the basic health sector.