Oyo State Government has urged residents, especially rural dwellers, to access quality and affordable healthcare through functional Primary Healthcare Centre (PHC) facilities in the state.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr Bode Ladipo, made the call while launching the maintenance manual for the facilities in Ibadan.
Ladipo said that the state government had put in some resources to facilitate the upgrade of PHCs.
He said the essence of the step was to make sure that each political ward has a viable healthcare centre.
According to him, about 210 of these PHCs were renovated during Gov. Seyi Makinde’s first tenure, adding that other PHCs would be completed to make up the remaining 351 PHCs.
Ladipo said that the state government was aware of the manpower shift from this clime to more economically buoyant climes.
The commissioner said that the state government had started looking inward to shore up resources that would ensure it meets the needs of practitioners.
Ladipo reiterated the commitment of the government to maintain all the healthcare facilities in the state.
He said there was need to ensure that the facilities put together, outlasts the present administration.
Ladipo said, “for this reason, the Oyo State Government put a small manual together for the maintenance of the new facilities.”
Earlier, Dr Funmi Salami, the Special Adviser to the governor on Health, said the maintenance handbook was vital as a good maintenance culture would extend the life of the infrastructure.
Salami reiterated the state government’s commitment to deliver its mandate of quality healthcare to all citizens of the state through the renovation of 351 primary healthcare centres (one PHC per ward) across the state to category III PHCs.
According to her, a category III PHC has about 13 rooms with potable water and electricity.
Salami said, “Maintaining the PHCs in a proactive manner is critical to their functionality and longevity.
“This maintenance manual will assist in ensuring that end users regularly perform preventative maintenance.”
She said the committee has a mandate to think outside the box toward addressing the shortage of healthcare workers in the country due to brain drain and other factors.
Salami said that decisions had been taken on how to provide staffing the PHCs on the short, medium and long term.
Stakeholders at the event include: Mr Ademola Aderinto Special Assistant on Environment (Technical lead Governor’s PHC renovation steering committee); Permanent Secretaries Ministry of Health and Local Government and ALGON Chairman, Sikiru Sanda.
