Post-insurgency: Borno, Adamawa, Yobe revive primary healthcare centres

As North East recovers from insurgency, the worst affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe have embarked on reviving the health sector, particularly Primary Healthcare Centres, PHCs.

The over a decade old insurgency has seriously affected the health sector in the state, with many health centres destroyed in the three states.

A World Health Organisation, WHO, Health Resources Availability Monitoring System, HeRAMS, report indicated that in 2019, only 30 per cent of health facilities in Borno were fully functional, with 45 and 69 per cent in Adamawa and Yobe states, respectively.

In Adamawa, the Executive Chairman of the Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Suleiman Bashir, said all the health centres in the 266 wards in the state were now fully functional.

Bashir said that all the centres were rehabilitated with staff and facilities deployed.

The Adamawa Health Commissioner, Felix Tangwami, said that the Governor Ahmadu Fintiri administration has placed priority attention on health and would continue to address the need of the centres for optimal performance.

In Yobe, where 138 health centres are functional, the state branch Chairman of Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, Dr Abubakar Kaumi, urged for some incentives to rural women to encourage patronage.

Mr Kaumi said that the provision of items such as sanitary pads and diapers, would encourage more patients to visit healthcare centres for treatment.

Mr Kaumi also stressed the need for accessibility, affordability, quality of care, reputation and convenience as other factors that would encourage patronage.

He urged government to ensure maintenance of the facilities, adding that sensitisation of the public on the need to take ownership of the facilities should also be stepped up for sustainability.

In Borno, where the government has embarked on rehabilitation and resettlement of displaced persons back to their ancestral homes, Governor Babagana Zulum said that 45 new primary healthcare centres had been constructed and equipped in 19 LGAs.

Mr Zulum also said that 18 general hospitals were also rehabilitated in 13 LGAs within the past four years.

The commitment by the Mr Zulum administration to primary healthcare has few weeks ago earned it an award of excellence from the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA).

The Coordinator of NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shu’aib, who presented the award, said the commitment from Borno would be a template in terms of transforming PHC.

“We applaud your outstanding dedication in advancing immunisations and other essential PHC services across the state,” the coordinator said.