Conference Chairman Hails PHC Board

The newly inaugurated Rivers State Primary Health Care Management Board, has been described as a positive step towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals in the sector.

Chairman of the Conference of Primary Health Workers in the state, Mr. Reuben Nwachenwo, who stated this in an interview with newsmen in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, also commended Governor Chibuike Amaechi for the decision to set up the PHC Board in the state.

Nwachenwo also said establishment of the Primary Health Care Management Board was a landmark achievement by Rivers State Governor, describing it as novel in the health service delivery.

“The inauguration of the Board is an achievement in the health sector in Rivers State because this is the first of its kind in the state, and we believe that the moribund state of primary health care is as a result of the fact that a board like this had not been put in place”.

He expressed hope that with the establishment of health management board in the state, health care delivery services, especially primary healthcare, would improve tremendously and give direction to the running of the health care administration.

“We believe that with the board coming to be now, heathcare delivery services, particularly the PHC would greatly improve because there would be central coordination and the supervision will be effective”, he stated.

Meanwhile, a family doctor in Port Harcourt, who spoke on condition of anonymity, thanked the Rivers State Government for establishing the Health Management Board, but expressed doubt if some members of the Board have the knowledge to run the affairs of primary health.

“The setting up of a Primary Healthcare Board is a laudable one, but I expected that the members of the Board would have been family medicine practitioners who have a better view of Primary Health Care”, he stated.