Board Assures On MDGs Target

The Rivers State Primary Health Care Management Board has reiterated its commitment to raise the consciousness of the people concerning their health in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Speaking during an orientation meeting on Home Based Care strategies for integrated maternal/newborn and child health with Health personnel in the L.G.A’s yesterday in Port Harcourt, the Executive Secretary of the Rivers State Primary Health Care Management Board Dr. Claribel Abam noted that the programme would help the people to access information concerning their health.

She reminded the officers to note that the task ahead of them is enormous and as such they should take every responsibility given them seriously adding that they should ensure that the information gathered from those working in the fields is factual.

Dr. Abam called on the health personnel to join hands to see to the success of the Home Based Care in order to make Rivers State a model in Primary Health Care delivery not only in the country but the world at large.

However, she noted that the cover of the Health Vanguards (those responsible for going round people’s houses) is the health centre stressing the need to carry out adequate supervision and advised that they should work as a team and always reporting to their various cover points.

The health centers which she referred to as the link should be kept abreast with goings-on in various households explaining that the Medical Officer and other Health Personnel in each health facility ought to be in the know of all the data statistics and medical information of each household in their areas.

Earlier, the Home Based Care Desk Officer at the Board Mr. Asiton-a Ibama who gave a detailed presentation of HBC activities as implemented in Oyigbo and Etche Local Government Areas enumerated some of the challenges of the programme which include; inadequate community Health workers, lack of adequate incentives for field workers and lack of incentives to procure and transport data generation instruments from the base to the health facilities.

Medical Officers of Health in Rivers State have been urged to put in place a good supervisory mechanism that would enhance productivity and check absenteeism of health staff in their Local Government Areas.

The Executive Secretary of the Rivers State Primary Health Care Management Board Dr. Claribel Abam gave the advice last Friday during a technical meeting of Medical Officers of Health ( M.O.Hs) and Management of the Board.

Dr. Abam stressed the need for the Doctors who are in charge of health facilities in the 23 Local Government Areas to work hard and carry out scrutiny of jobs done by health workers in their L.G.As and also punish erring health staff.

She further advised them to encourage Health facilities under them to generate enough funds through the free medical scheme of the state Government in order to be able to run themselves.

In his presentation at the meeting, the representative of World Health Organisation Dr. Richard Koko advised M.O.H’s to always take firm control and improve on routine immunization in the state, pointing out that it is one of the major reasons the Board was established.

Dr. Koko noted that routine immunization would help check the outbreak of diseases like measles in some areas of the state as reported recently.

In tackling measles outbreak, the WHO representative gave an elaborate talk on laid down procedures, some of which are that health practitioners should first of all notify relevant authorities of such outbreaks , manage/access appropriately the risks of large outbreak and also the capacity to implement a possible campaign.

He urged them as professionals to always protect themselves against diseases by taking vaccines themselves.

Highlight of the meeting was the special presentation of reports on Primary Health Care activities in Andoni and Abua Odual Local Government Areas detailing challenges and recommendations to the Board by the Medical Officers of Health of the above mentioned Local Government Areas.