*Highlights agenda for Governor
By; ALEX UANGBAOJE, Kaduna
A Civil Society group, Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health at Scale, (PACFaH@Scale), on Monday, urged the Kaduna State Governor, Senator Uba Sani, to prioritize the completion of the State Primary Health Care Board office complex.
This they said is a key element that would help the state government to attain 100% implementation of the Primary Health Care Under One Roof (PHCUOR).
The group, led by Alhaji Mustapha Jumare, who made the call in Kaduna, at a press conference to highlight their agenda for the new administration, also tasked the governor to urgently develop strategies for the sustainability of the three years Primary Health Care Memorandum of Understanding (PHC-MoU) the state signed with development partners which ends this year; 2023.
According to them, the government under Nasir el-Rufai, had fulfilled 8 out of the 9 pillars of the PHCUOR implementation to reach 98% and initiated the last pillar which is the upgrading and renovation of the board’s office complex which the group says will be one of the best in the country when completed.
The pillars include, governance and ownership: the state has established a State Primary Healthcare Board (SPHCB) and Local Government Health Authorities (LGHA) with management and advisory team.
Legislation: the state now has an operational SPHCB law with clear provisions on key requirements for the full implementation of PHCUOR.
Has developed a Minimum Service Package (MSP), document starting with the classification of all PHC facilities based on minimum services to be provided including essential medicines/consumables, essential equipment and the required manpower.
Others are, funding, human resources, budget implementation, office space, logistics and public buy-in.
PAS, as they are also called, is a Bill and Melinda Gates funded project in Nigeria, a social accountability project, aiming to strengthen the capacity of Nigerian Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), anchored by the Development Research project Centre (dRPC), and implemented by a coalition of health NGOS and professional associations.
Jumare, added that government should also prioritize the release of 250 million for procurement of family planning commodities for the state to reduce commodity stock out.
“Government should intensify supportive supervision to health facilities during RI sessions to ensure data validation and harmonization after services and also replace obsolete cold chain system.
“Government should capitalize the State Health Supply Agency and increase delivery fleet (vehicles) to ensure constant availability and effective distribution of health commodities to health facilities this will ensure efficient release of funds to optimize operation and payment of suppliers on time.
“While we commend the state for maintaining the 15% health budget allocation from the state annual budget with priority allocation to PHC as contained in the Abuja declaration, we call on the state government to resolve the challenges of poor cash backing of funding for health sector is perennial issue.” He noted.
