Niger govt, groups disagree on poor state of PHCs

Civil Society Organisations (CSO) in Niger State have disagreed with the state government on the poor state of Primary Health Care (PHC) centres, how to check the trend to guarantee improved and affordable health care delivery system for all Niger State citizens.
Most of the Primary Health Care centres lacked professionals manning them except for what is referred to as ‘the in-charge’, who traverses from one location to another when called upon, while others are so filty and unkempt, capable of exposing patients to harmful bacteria.

During the, Agenda for PHC’s Advocacy Learning Dissemination Meeting at Gidan Matasa, Minna, the CSOs revealed that many donor agencies and development partners end up abandoning projects or end up duplicating functions due to non-existing, Primary Health Care Development Agency (PHCDA) in place to manage the sector.
Mr. Olasunkanmi Kalejaiye, the state Cordinator, PHCUORSAT, recalled how many patients, including pregnant women and children coming for medical attention got contaminated from fly infested and unhygienic PHCs.
He therefore wants positive action on the part of state government to safeguard lives of patients.
Also contributing, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Focal Person (Niger), Alhaji Babawachuko Yahaya, blamed poor PHCs to what he termed, ‘double budgeting or concentration on a particular issue’ by donor agencies and development partners.
“It is common to notice that interventions can be very insignificant to demand intervention, some donor agencies and development partners come into the state, do whatever they have to do without the state government being aware”, he said.
He therefore called for a more proactive actions in managing aids for the state.