Nasarawa State governor, Umaru Tanko Al-makura has lamented the plight of rural communities at accessing primary healthcare services even when the state boasts of over 700 healthcare centres which are largely under lock and key for want of qualified staff.
Al-makura made this known yesterday in Lafia while fielding questions from our reporter on the condition of healthcare delivery system in the state.
“We have over 700 primary health care centres in the state and it will shock you to know that, more than 300 of them are unmanned because the nurses are not there, the midwives are not there because our youths now no longer find the profession of nursing or being a nurse or midwife lucrative,” he lamented.
He noted that some cardinal factors like robust training programmes and institutions for nurses and midwives and attractive welfare packages to attract would-be nurses and midwives have not been thoroughly thought through before building hundreds of primary healthcare centres.
“Nobody is talking about that, and we keep building hospitals, and primary health care centres with nobody to man them. I cannot build hospitals and start importing nurses and midwives. How many staff would 700 primary healthcare centres take and in each of them we have not less than 25 people and you are talking about many thousands of staff?”
“So, we have to produce them locally and that is why I am now intervening in the provision of a school of nursing, school of midwifery and school of health technology because my emphasis is on primary healthcare system. I am not bordered about referral hospitals and all that. What we need to provide for the ordinary man is to ensure that he gets the basic primary preventive care, that he would be able to put at bay some of these infectious diseases and sicknesses. So that is the challenge he said.
Source:
Al-makura made this known yesterday in Lafia while fielding questions from our reporter on the condition of healthcare delivery system in the state.
“We have over 700 primary health care centres in the state and it will shock you to know that, more than 300 of them are unmanned because the nurses are not there, the midwives are not there because our youths now no longer find the profession of nursing or being a nurse or midwife lucrative,” he lamented.
He noted that some cardinal factors like robust training programmes and institutions for nurses and midwives and attractive welfare packages to attract would-be nurses and midwives have not been thoroughly thought through before building hundreds of primary healthcare centres.
“Nobody is talking about that, and we keep building hospitals, and primary health care centres with nobody to man them. I cannot build hospitals and start importing nurses and midwives. How many staff would 700 primary healthcare centres take and in each of them we have not less than 25 people and you are talking about many thousands of staff?”
“So, we have to produce them locally and that is why I am now intervening in the provision of a school of nursing, school of midwifery and school of health technology because my emphasis is on primary healthcare system. I am not bordered about referral hospitals and all that. What we need to provide for the ordinary man is to ensure that he gets the basic primary preventive care, that he would be able to put at bay some of these infectious diseases and sicknesses. So that is the challenge he said.
Source:
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