The Ondo State government, says over 800 health workers have been employed to fill the gap in the health sector in the state in the last year.
Dr Francis Akanbiemu, Permanent Secretary, State Primary Health Care Development Agency (OSPHCDA), revealed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Akure on Sunday.
Akanbiemu explained that the health workers were recruited in 2021 to ensure effective and quality service delivery at the primary healthcare level.
The permanent secretary, who said that the recruitment cut across all strata of the medical profession, stated that the recruited staff had been deployed to all the health centres across the state.
According to him, Gov. Rotimi Akeredolu has demonstrated in words and actions that the health of the people of the state is of top priority.
“The governor has paid much attention to basic healthcare services.
“He has said in many fora that over 70 per cent of people of Ondo State should have access to basic healthcare services and for that to happen, he must strengthen primary health centres.
“That is why the first thing he mandated us to do when he came in was to do a baseline assessment of Primary Health Centre (PHC) that would provide effective and quality healthcare service delivery that is of the highest standard,” he told NAN.
Akanbiemu explained that after conducting a baseline assessment of PHCs across the state, the governor made provisions for well equipped and standard laboratories in health centres in each of the 18 local government areas of the state.
“Mr governor did not just give the instruction, he bought equipment that was distributed to health centres in all the 18 local government areas of the state with an additional one in Akure South Local Government Area, which is the busy LGA.
“He did not stop there, he also said that these workers must be trained and we had to liaise with the Association of Medical Science Laboratory of Nigeria, Ondo State Chapter, who brought human resources from different health facilities and trained over 200 laboratory technicians across the 18 local government areas on how to use the equipment.
“Since then, more laboratories have been built so that they could provide enabling environment because, without a standard laboratory, the diagnosis would not be accurate.
“With a diagnosis, you have actually cured the person 60 per cent assurance,” Akanbiemu said.
According to him, the state government has also equipped the majority of the basic health centres with life-saving equipment.
“The records are there. Mr governor distributed the equipment on two different occasions. All the equipment is of the highest standard in the world.
“As a matter of fact, most of the equipment he distributed to our hospitals is the best anywhere in the world.
“Some equipment is to sustain newborns and they have been distributed to 300 health facilities across the state.
“The governor’s strategy is that in every local government area, at least a health centre must be strengthened, but he was able to strengthen two in most cases.
“The government also organised training for the use of these Ambu bags and brought experts from Canada who trained over 200 health workers,” he said.
He explained that the focus of the government was to ensure that the primary health centres were attractive so that people would patronise them.
According to him, no fewer than 19 health centres have been fully renovated with one in each local government, while two in Akure South Local Government due to population.
The permanent secretary said the government had equally provided 212 incinerators to ensure proper waste management in the health centres.