Hakeem Gbadamosi
A non-governmental organisation, Connected Development (CODE), has called on the state government to seek sustainable funding for primary healthcare systems in Nigeria to effectively tackle an outbreak of diseases and other health emergencies at the grassroots.
The NGO also tasked the government to show more political commitment toward building a strong primary health system by equipping the primary healthcare facilities with necessary equipment and personnel and particularly making it accessible and affordable to the people.
The Secretary General of CODE, Mukhtar Modibbo, who stated this during a town hall meeting with stakeholders in Akure, Ondo State capital, with the theme ‘Strengthening Accountability Measures on COVID-19 Intervention Funds SAM-C’.
He said the NGO is assessing the status of primary healthcare in six states for necessary action to be taken and listed the six states to include Ondo, Ekiti, Edo, Bayelsa, Kebbi and Zamfara.
Modibbo said, “the town hall meeting was organised to get people’s view and understand what is going on in the state and across primary healthcare development agencies.
“We have been to 16 primary healthcare to look at three different thematic areas, from Covid administration to personnel and service delivery as well as infrastructural development across these primary healthcare to ascertain the level of preparedness for any other pandemic.
“We interact with people to tell us whether or not, what we have as our report is something that is the reality of what is going on in the state. What we did was go just give people back the data and then get their input.
“We develop a policy brief based on the data we have collected and we try to show the people of Ondo State what they have and then submit it to policymakers.
According to him, “This project is not only in Ondo State, but it is also in six other states and we try to showcase how budget happen in all the state.
“We might not be the best on how we anticipate going. This is the 21st century, we ought to have passed this level that we are. In some other states, they are improved while others need improvement.
“They are a lot of challenges, Nigeria is big, and the problems are enormous. So all we could do is support the government. We got it right with Covid but that does not mean that we do not get it wrong with another pandemic if it happens.”
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