Health: PACFaH-PAS Urge Uba Sani To Complete PHCUOR Office Component In Kaduna
By Ojo Shola
Civil Society Organizations in Kaduna working under the Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health at Scale (PACFaH@Scale, PAS, has charged the State Governor, Uba Sani to complete the office component of the Primary Health Care Under One Roof (PHCUOR) which has been under construction for about two years.
At a press conference titled; “Kaduna PAS CSO Coalition handing over notes and 6-point agenda for Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State”, held at Cecelia Musa Nursing House, Kaduna, Coalition Lead in the State, Alhaji Mustapha Jumare noted that the state scored 98 percent performance in the PHCUOR assessment due to non-completion of the office component – having done well in its eight of the nine pillars.
The eight other components of primary health care where the State has been rated high are health education, availability, accessibility, and affordability ofhealth services, immunization, provision of essential medicines, treatment of communicable diseases, water and sanitation, promotion of mental health and rehabilitation and maternal and child healthcare.
According to Jumare when completed, the structure would be one of the best in the country where all the service can be sourced in one stop shop thereby promoting the well-being of the people in addition to a well-coordinated workforce in the primary health care system in the State.
To him, “as we all know, the health system of Kaduna State went through a lot of transformations following a high-level political commitment from the Executive and Legislature while Partners and CSOs supported.
“It is in view of this that we are setting the following agenda and urging Governor Uba Sani to as a matter of urgency put mechanisms in place to implement them to place Kaduna state ahead of other states in the health sector.
“While we commend the state government for scoring 98% in the implementation of the PHCUOR policy, we call on the state government to complete the upgrading/rehabilitation of the office component set up”, he said.
The Coalition specifically asked Uba Sani to develop a sustainable strategic plan for the continuation of the three-year PHC-MOU signed between Kaduna State and other Partners that supported the State to strengthen the integrated PHCs system as the MOU is finishing by the end of the year 2023.
“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 the health sector is a perennial issue.
“Government should capitalise on 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 the efficient release of funds to optimise operation and payment of suppliers on time.
“Government should prioritise the release of N250 million for procurement of family planning commodities for the State to reduce commodity stock out.
“Government should intensify supportive supervision to health facilities during routine immunisation sessions to ensure data validation and harmonization after services and also replace obsolete cold chain system”.
PACFaH@Scale, PAS, 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) at National and State levels to hold decision makers to account and comply with commitments in child and family health policies (Laws), financial obligations and to bring down regulatory and administrative barriers to effective and efficient service delivery.