By Muhammad Auwal
The Kaduna State Government has inaugurated Advisory Committees to expand healthcare delivery in 23 local government areas of the state.
The Deputy Governor of the state, Dr Hadiza Balarabe, said the committees were tasked with oversight of Primary Healthcare Services at the local government and ward levels.
She said the move was an important step towards improving and expanding healthcare services in the state.
According to her, the committees are saddled with the responsibility of providing leadership and coordination of activities in all the PHCs in state through review meetings, monitoring and supervision.
Dr Hadiza said local government council chairmen would serve as the chairmen of the advisory committees, while council heads of health would serve as secretaries of the committees.
“The secretaries will provide them with technical information regarding to primary health care delivery in the local government areas,” she said.
The deputy governor said the council chairmen would henceforth take full control of activities in the area of primary health care delivery in their areas.
She urged them to swing into action as the committees would give the local government focus to ensure effective primary health care delivery.
“There are so many activities coming up including the contributory health scheme and the basic health care provision funds,’’ she said.
According to her, there is need to be more focused and also to come up with programme that will impact positively on the lives of people of the state.
She stressed the importance of healthcare in the state, being one of the global indices for human capital development.
“You cannot have an industrialised state without people who are healthy and educated,’’ she said.
She therefore charged the council chairmen to develop primary healthcare systems to allow the State Government concentrate more on its responsibility of providing secondary facilities and other healthcare services.
The deputy governor said the state was not where it supposed to be but government was working hard to provide health service to the people.
Responding on behalf of his colleagues, Mr Ibrahim Sadiq, the Chairman of Ikara Local Government Council, assured that they would do their best to ensure success in delivering primary healthcare service to the people at the grassroots.
Mr Sadiq said primary healthcare is part of the responsibilities of the council chairmen and promised that they would do their best.
