By Ndidi Chukwu
Kaduna State Government has announced the institution of a strong financial management system, as a result of consistent advocacy for improved transparency and accountability in funds expenditure.
The state Commissioner of Health and Human Services, Dr. Paul Manya Dogo, disclosed this while responding to questions on healthcare challenges during the ‘#Open Kaduna State Ministry of Health’ event in Kaduna.
The event which was organized by members of Kaduna State Accountability Mechanism for maternal and newborn child Health (KADMaM) with support from Community Health and Research Initiative (CHR) under Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health (PACFaH) had in attendance high level stakeholders in the state to chat ways towards the improvement of its Primary Health Care.
The commissioner said the state worked in the quarter two of 2016 to improve on transparency and accountability in Routine immunisation funds disbursement to LGAs and health facilities following scorecards developed by CHR/PACFaH on Routine Immunization Budget which highlighted areas of improvement to strengthen accountability.
Answering a question on accessibility of fund for Immunization logistics by facilities, the commissioner said, “This is the first time LGAs got funds directly and they submit retirement, this is an indication that in the nearest future there will be proper accountability on what funds are used for in the state.”
He also mentioned that the state currently has an increase in RI coverage rate from 36 per cent using the 2014 smart survey as baseline to 71 per cent using the house to house enumeration data conducted by the state.
This he said was made possible through the involvement of partners and indigenous CSOs in immunization planning and implementation.
“The state is making efforts to further strengthen collaborations with partners to improve the quality of administrative data reported in a bid to resolve data quality issues being experienced in the state,” he said.
Dr. Dogo further announced that the state is set to recruit retired midwives to be deployed to Primary Healthcare Center, PHCs, in the state to improve services and access.
According to the commissioner, “the quality of primary health centres is being improved, contractors have been appointed, two per LGA to supervise renovation and upgrading of 255 PHCs.
“Kaduna State Government and General Electric (GE) signed the contract agreement worth N1.59 million for the procurement of equipment for the 255 Ward PHCs and 23 General Hospitals in the State, which will serve as referral centres for the 255 PHCs,” he added
