CSOs Explain Reasons for Establishing Monitoring Group To Ensure Accessible Healthcare Services
CSOs Explain Reasons for Establishing Monitoring Group To Ensure Accessible Healthcare Services
In an effort to support the development of an improved Healthcare services across the the country, Civil Society Organisations under aegis of CSO-PHC Engagement Forum (CPEF) met in Kaduna and resolved to establish a group to monitor the activities of Primary Healthcare Centres in Nigeria.
According to the CSOs, the aim of aim of setting up the monitoring unit is to ensure that the ordinary citizens can access good medical healthcare that is affordable , especially at the rural areas.
In a Statement jointly signed by the Chairman and Secretary of the newly created CSO-PHC Engagement Forum; Comrade Bala Ahmad Mohammad and Comrade Peter Ibrahim Amfani , the decision to create the monitoring was informed by the decay in the healthcare system and lack of proper management of healthcare facilities , especially at local government areas.
The statement further reads: " At the Kaduna meeting held at Arewa House, ,We discussed extensively some of the problems facing healthcare delivery services , especially in the rural areas and resolved to work out a functional modalities to inspect and monitor PHCs as a way of check on the personnel and management of the facilities.
"We discovered that Nigeria's healthcare infrastructures across the country remain severely underdeveloped, lacking the modern medical facilities that are essential for quality care with the country's healthcare indicators rank among the worst in Africa.
"Considering the rate of deprivation , poverty and death rates, the need to monitor the functionality of medical healthcare facilities, equipment and personnel efficiency has become a thing of paramount importance in order to ensure quality healthcare for the deprived citizens. "
While acknowledging that the decay further exacerbated by a series of critical issues, thus our decision to concentrate on monitoring of the PHCs to compliment National healthcare development agencies with emphasis for the ordinary citizens to enjoy affordable and accessible without any for bureaucratic bottleneck.
"We also discovered that the country has several barriers that limit delivery of PHCs: amongst them the internal conflict in parts of the country, crime and corruption, multiplicity of governmental and donor agencies, vertical programmes, low political commitment to implementation of approved health policies, differences in remuneration between levels of care.
"Our study also revealed that inadequate referral services, inadequate number of staff, high cost of drugs and services, availability of healthcare for 24 hours were some of the factors with high frequency that influence the utilization of healthcare services."
However, it which urged the federal government to improve funding of the health sector, expressed worry that the health system is relatively weak, and there is yet a coordinated response across the country with a number of health workforce crises have been reported due to poor welfare, lack of appropriate health facilities and emerging factions among health workers. "
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