Some health practitioners say Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) require adequate funds, equipment and manpower resources to improve and expand their scope of service delivery.
Accordingly, they called on the Federal Government to furnish PHCs in the country the needed enabling environment to function optimally.
The health experts made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos.
According to them, it has become imperative to improve and expand the services rendered by PHCs in order to relieve the secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities.
A Medical Imaging Scientist, Dr Livinus Abonyi, described the level and quality of healthcare currently being rendered by PHCs as ‘suboptimal’.
Abonyi, also the Head, Department of Radiography, University of Lagos, said that the PHCs ought to be rendering a wide range of healthcare services, but that were being limited due to shortage of manpower resources.
He decried that the health sector lacked the needed trained community health workers to man the PHCs.
To address the issue of shortage of manpower, Abonyi said that the government need to prioritise the health sector.
He said, “The level and quality of health services as currently being rendered by PHCs is suboptimal.
“There is not sufficient manpower to meet the needs of the population that the centres are expected to serve.
“And this shortage of manpower has become a real challenge in Nigeria .
“Not that we are not producing enough manpower as per a specified time as a country, but the economic situation has made it very discouraging for health professionals that have alternative quality of remuneration to remain in Nigeria.
“So, across all health professionals, many are traveling outside to other countries in troops, such that the country is now in a situation of scarcity of health professionals.”
To address this issue of lack of manpower, Abonyi said the government had to prioritise health and health issues.
“This is so that we can offer not only adequate remuneration to keep people, but also provide the condition of service/conducive environment and equipment to work with”.
Abonyi, who decried the large population of patients that seek healthcare at secondary and tertiary health facilities, said that the situation has resulted to persistent lack of bed spaces in the health institutions.
According to him, if the PHCs are functioning optimally, greater percentage of health cases would be handled at that level such that only about 30 per cent of the health cases would be referred to the secondary/tertiary health facilities.
“Presently, a patient can visit about two to three tertiary hospitals without getting a bed space – that is real.
“If anyone wants to test it, the person should just pretend to be very sick; you will go to first one – they will say no bed space; you go to the second one – no bed space.
“There are many citizens who are carried back home dead because they are unable to get a bed space.
“If we have functional primary healthcare facilities and associate levels of care, we wouldn’t be facing such because earlier intervention prevents disease progression to a certain level where it will require further treatments.
“But, if at the early stage it was addressed and tackled conveniently, the person would have gotten well and it wouldn’t add to the population that would bring pressure to the tertiary health facilities,” Abonyi said.
Dr Amina Dorayi, the Pathfinder’s Country Director in Nigeria, said Universal Health Coverage hinged on the strength and resilience of primary healthcare systems.
According to her, building local capacity and training healthcare workers is essential for delivering high-quality services at the primary level.
“This includes providing ongoing training, mentorship, and support to ensure that healthcare workers have the skills and competencies needed to address the unique needs of their communities”.
Dorayi suggested that the government could foster partnerships with private sector organisations, NGOs, and community groups to leverage resources, expertise, and funding.
She also said there was the need to invest in digital infrastructure and data-driven insights to help identify priority communities and optimize resource distribution.
“This includes leveraging geospatial data, machine learning, and digital microplanning to inform decision-making,” she told NAN.
Also speaking, Dr Stephen Oluwaniyi, Head, Clinical Services, Federal Neuro-psychiatric Hospital Yaba, called for adequate funding of the PHCs to enhance its performance and by extension improve the nation’s health system.
Oluwaniyi, also a consultant psychiatrist, urged the State Governments to intensify efforts to be providing the primary healthcare commission with its quota of the stipulated budget allocation.
He explained that the Federal Government had been trying to pay significant part of its share of the budget allocation, saying that the state governments were yet to make their contributions.
He described PHCs as a vital instrument in health system because they drive disease prevention, which is the most important aspect of healthcare.
According to him, PHCs are health facilities very close-by (a walking distance) where people go to seek healthcare when they have minor ailments.
Oluwaniyi, therefore, emphasised the need for employment of community health workers who lived in the communities to manage the PHCs.
“The primary healthcare is a vital instrument in health system because they drive disease prevention, which is the most important aspect of healthcare, hence, the need for its adequate funding and maintenance.
“Similarly, there is need to employ trained community healthcare workers who reside in the community and are familiar with the area because they are the one to go to the interiors where doctors and specialised nurses cannot reach to immunise and educate the rural dwellers on health matters.
“For the budget allocation to the primary healthcare commission, the Federal Government for years now has been making its own part of the contributions, though, it has not paid up to 15% of the recommended budget, but the state governments are yet to make their contributions.
“I, therefore, urge the state governments to dialogue with with primary healthcare management and do the needful, so that the PHCs will be provided with the required resources to function better,” Oluwaniyi said.
A resident of Ago community, Lagos, Mrs Gloria Godwin, told NAN that she preferred going to secondary health facilities to seek healthcare irrespective of the distance and protocols involved.
Godwin said she stopped going to primary healthcare center because it was unable to provide her son with the needed medical services.
“There is a primary healthcare centre situated in the street next to mine; but after going there several occasions and ended up visiting the secondary health facilities on a particular health case, I decided not to go to the health centre again.
“In addition to the fact there are very limited health workers there including doctors, greater percentage of the medical diagnosis are done there too.
“But, if their health services improve, I will be encouraged to seek healthcare services there and likewise other people,” she said.(NAN)
