Makinde’s Aide Assures Oyo Residents Of Quality Primary Health Care Delivery

…As Govt Launches Maintainace Manual For Facilities

By Bode Akinbode, Ibadan

The Special Adviser to Oyo state Governor, ‘Seyi Makinde on Health , Dr. Funmi Salami, has assured residents of the state of quality Primary Health Care delivery as renovation work is ongoing in all the 351 primary health care centers in all the wards across the state to upgrade them to category 3 PHCs.

She made the disclosure during the introduction of a new maintenance handbook for newly renovated/newly built primary healthcare centres in the state, which was held at the conference room of the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Secretariat, Ibadan.

Dr Salami who is also the Chairperson, Governor Seyi Makinde’s’s Primary Health Centre Renovation Steering Committee said the introduction of the handbook became necessary as a good maintenance culture, which she said, will extend the life of the infrastructure the state government is setting up.

She said: “A category 3 PHC has about 13 rooms with portable water and electricity. About 210 of these PHCs were renovated in His Excellency’s first tenure, and other PHCs will be completed to make up the remaining 351 PHCs.”

“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.”

“We appreciate Lanocks Construction Company as well as Dominant Engineering for the execution of the project and their commitment towards ensuring faults are detected early and repaired.”

While explaining the reason behind the shortage of healthcare workers in the country, Dr. Salami argued that the development was as a result of brain drain and other factors, adding that: “Healthcare staff is essential to the functioning of PHCs. We received a mandate from His Excellency to think outside the box to staff our PHCs.”

She said decisions have been reached on how to provide staffing the PHCs on the short, medium and long term.