By Asma’u Ahmad
The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) said the proposed 10,000 Primary HealthCare Centres (PHCs) to be build by Federal Government would help enhance disease surveillance in Nigeria.
Director, Advocacy and Communication, NPHCDA, Dr Adamu Nuhu told newsmen in Abuja that the centres would also enhance speedy report of ailments in the country.
Health Reporters reports that the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, had said that the federal government planned to build additional 10,000 PHCs across the 774 local government areas in the
country, to make medical care available to more Nigerians and decongest the tertiary health institutions.
Dr. Nuhu said: “A functional PHC in a community will assist in the timely report of ailments and also provide complete picture of the situation. The proposed centres will assist in information gathering
which is very vital and fundamental to our disease surveillance structure.”
The director said that the objective behind having additional centres is to ensure that there is one functional health facility in every ward across the country.
“We have over 9,500 political wards in the country. Having a functional PHC in each ward takes the healthcare delivery system closer to people; it will help many Nigerians to access improved and better healthcare services as PHC is a first point of contact for the people, the community and the national health system,” he said.
According to him, the proposed facilities will not exist as separate entities as they will be under the leadership of the State Primary Health Care Agencies or Boards to give room for transparency and
accountability as well as make room for reward and sanctions mechanism.
