The Ondo State Primary Health Care Development Agency(OSPHCDA), says the state has attained 76 per cent immunisation coverage for children and pregnant women.
The Permanent Secretary of the agency, Dr Francis Akanbiemu, said this in an interview with our correspondent on Sunday in Akure.
Akanbiemu explained that effective immunisation had been taken as a priority by the state government, hence all hands were often on deck to ensure its success.
“Immunisation coverage for children and pregnant women in Ondo State is now 76 per cent, even it was 86 per cent before COVID-19 pandemic, which made it to drop to 76.
“Ondo State is the only state to maintain this level in the South-West zone,” he stated.
The permanent secretary said that the government had not relented in ensuring that effectiveness and quality services were accomplished at the primary healthcare level.
“Our Cold Chain Store is running 24 hours without power failure and our vaccine is one of the potent vaccines in the country.
“In term of maintenance of cold chain, Ondo State remains to be beaten. Even when diesel price was high as N750, our generators did not blink. The diesel consumption is funded by the state government.
“This has made our vaccine to be at optimal level. There is no request that we take to Mr Governor intending for providing counterpart state funds for any federal activities that he would not honour.
“And for the Primary Health Care (PHC) authority to be able to provide effective leadership, the governor has started the expansion of this agency and there is a building in this office premises that we started and he has approved N20 million to take the building to 90 per cent level.
“He also built a state of the arts called emergency operation centre, where we now hold our meeting.
“So, Ondo State has two emergency operation centres, where people sit down on how to address and respond to outbreak,” he said.
He said that the PHC system in the state was structured like a home where health personnel would treat patients like their family members.
According to him, some patients do not like being referred to higher health facilities without going with official of primary health centre.
The permanent secretary said that there was no procedural bottleneck in accessing healthcare services at the health centres in the state unlike the higher level of health facilities.
On pregnant women patronising traditional birth attendants and faith-based organisations for delivery, Akanbiemu explained that the government was collaborating with Community Health Influencers and Promoters (CHIP) for effective monitoring.
He said that the CHIP had been trained to convince pregnant women on need to patronise government-approved hospitals for delivery.
He said that the CHIP served as link between the community members seeking healthcare and health centres, adding that the government paid them stipend on monthly basis.
The permanent secretary noted that the collaboration had been impactful and stopped death of pregnant women in the state.