Kogi Govt committed to quality healthcare delivery – Official

The Kogi Government is committed to ensuring quality healthcare delivery for the people of the state.

The Executive Director, Kogi State Primary Health Care Development Agency (KSPHCDA), Dr. Abubakar Yakubu made this known to the Newsmen on Wednesday in Lokoja.

The agency has begun training for the 1,080 health workers for the implementation of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) in the state.

”The state government is doing all possible to ensure the successful implementation of the program in the state to ensure that everyone especially the vulnerable in the society has access to quality healthcare services,” he said.

He said the training was one of the prerequisites for the implementation of BHCPF in the state.

”A total of 1,080 participants will be trained for the implementation of BHCPF program across the 21 local government areas of the state.

”The six-day intensive training which began on Sept. 27, will end on Oct. 2,” he said.

He explained that eight facilitators from National Primary Health Care (NPHCDA) and National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) including partners from WHO and UNICEF were on the ground for the exercise.

The executive director added that the ward development committee members, the HMI officers at LGA would also be trained for data capturing and organization for the programme.

”As soon as we are through with these training, we are pretty certain that the implementation of BHCPF programme will start in the state in earnest.

”We will recruit more health officers from the BHCPF especially the midwives and nurses into health facilities to enhance primary healthcare delivery across the state,” he said.

Dr. Emmanuel Bola Jonah, the Desk Officer and Focal Person for Kogi State BHCPF, said the agency selected participants from one health facility in all the 239 wards across the state.

He noted that 236 out of the selected 239 health facilities in the state had been accredited, while the remaining three health facilities were in the process of accreditation.

Jonah stressed that the implementation BHCPF programme would make healthcare affordable, improve the health indices of people at the grassroots and reduce mortality and morbidity rates in the state.

On his part, Dr. Adekunle Aledare, the Executive-Secretary, Kogi State Health Insurance Agency (KGSHIA), commended the Governor for his magnanimity in paying the state’s commitment fund of N100 million to enable Kogi to benefit from the BHCPF and for fully sponsoring the training exercise.

”We thank Gov. Yahaya Bello, for his pro-activeness and for being a health-friendly governor that is concerned with healthcare services of our people,” he said.

He said that KGSHIA was also an implementing partner of the BHCPF, adding that the agency had the mandate to enroll 131 vulnerable persons per ward across the 239 wards in the state.

He noted that the agency had completed enrollment of a total of 31, 491 vulnerable persons across the state’s 21 local government areas that would benefit from the BHCPF.

According to Aledare, the eligible enrollees include pregnant women, children under the age of five years, people with disabilities, the poorest of the poor, and the elderly above 60 years.

One of the facilitators, Mr. Stephen Ameh, Assistant Director from National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Abuja, said at the end of the training, the participants were expected to have acquired the necessary skills and go back to replicate same at the grassroots.

He noted that Kogi was the first of the remaining three states that were yet to do the training, saying all other states had done the BHCPF training.

Ameh however commended the Governor for the prompt payment of the state’s commitment fund, saying Kogi was the first to pay among the northern states.

A participant, Yusuf Hojapa, the Chairman of Primary Healthcare (PHC) Forum in Kogi, said he has benefited from the training.

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NAN reports that the Acting Permanent Secretary in the State’s Ministry of Health, Mrs. Diana Offor, on Monday inaugurated the training exercise on behalf of the Commissioner for Health, Dr Saka Audu,

The commissioner advised the participants to take the training very seriously, saying the state was very much concerned as it had invested heavily in the program.

NAN reports that the BHCPF is one percent of the Federal Government consolidated revenue deducted at source with other support from partners, donor agencies, individuals, and corporate organizations.

The fund is meant to help the federal government in achieving Universal Health Coverage for all.