Medical Anthropologist Recommends Rural Mobile Health Clinics (RMHC) For Osun State

At the on going conference organised by Centre for Rural Affairs and Ccommunity Development(CERACODE), it was recommended that to revitalise rural healthcare system, Osun state should consider introduction of Rural Mobile Health Clinics in the State.

The conference that began on Monday 17th December 2018 was held in Iba, Ifelodun Local Government Area of the state.

The theme of the conference was revitalization of rural communities and small towns.

According to Professor Aderemi Ajala, a Medical Anthropologist from University of Ibadan, who presented a lead paper on Rural Healthcare in Osun State, there is a dearth of medical personnel and health care facilities in rural communities of Osun State.

According to him, the situation makes the rural dwellers to engage in use of quack doctors, self medication and exclusive reliance on faith-based and traditional healing systems. The situation portends grave danger which induced higher mortality and morbidity due to Infrastructural Deficiency Induced Diseases(IDID) in rural areas of the state.

Commending His Excellency, the governor of Osun State for setting up a committee on revitalization of health sector in Osun, Professor Ajala called on government to summon political will in addressing health care challenges in Osun state.

He suggested that to revitalise rural healthcare system in Osun state, Rural Mobile Health Clinics should be introduced.

According to him, government can procure nine buses distributed among the nine federal constituencies making up the state. Each of the buses must be equipped with at least three medical doctors, five nurses and four medical assistants, and Health care appliances. Each of the equipped buses should cover the rural communities in each of the federal constituencies to provide primary health care services.

In furtherance, Professor Ajala was of the opinion that Rural Mobile Health Clinic will reduce mortality and morbidity rate in rural communities and make healthcare accessible to most rural dwellers in Osun State. Professor also recommend that Abiye health programme in Ondo state can be understudied and adapted to Osun state.