Commissioner Lauds 72 Hrs Make-Over Initiative

The Rivers State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Princewill Chike, has lauded the 72 hours make-over intervention project aimed at improving family planning services in the State.
Speaking during the commissioning of the pilot projects on Monday, the commissioner declared it as a “great initiative powered by the zeal of the State Governor Nyesom Wike, to make easier access to health services.
While noting that the project is a partnership between The Challenge Initiative (TCI) and the Rivers State Government, Prof. Chike said, “within 72 hours, the family planning unit is converted to what is modern from what it is.
“It is usually done from Friday, when work is closed, through Saturday and Sunday. By Monday, our mothers who come for Family Planning will see a completely different unit, completely made over, cleaned up etc”, the Commissioner said.
Describing the project, the Director of TCI, Dr Victor Igharo said “the 72 hour clinic make-over is one of the impact intervention that contributes to strengthening service delivery.
According to him, the project was warranted by the need to meet the challenges faced by women, who were found not to have conducive environment to access family planning services.
“So we came up with this 72 hour clinic make-over intervention, which has been tested in a lot of facilities under previous projects in “Urban Reproductive Health Initiative”, which is also behind the get-together campaign.
“We are now exposing states to this high impact practice, to show that it is possible that within a space of 72 hours we could transform a family planning unit to a standard that will be conducive to provide Family Planning Services”, he said.
Dr Ighara stated the hope that the first six pilot centres will demonstrate the effectiveness of the 72 hour make-over project in health care delivery, in this case family planning.
The six pilot sites are: Mgbudunkwu Model Primary Healthcare Centre, Churchill’s Model Healthcare Centre, Elekahia Model Healthcare Centre, Orogbum, Ozuoba, and Rumuodomaya Healthcare Centres.

Sogbeba Dokubo