Seven years after operations came to abrupt end at Luawii Primary Health Centre in Khana Local Government Area, due to community crisis, a Non-Governmental Organisation,(NGO) under the aegis of the Association of Civil Society Organisations on Malaria, Immunisation and Nutrition (ACOMIN) is collaborating with other stakeholders to ensure that services resume in the healthcare centre soon.
At a meeting organised by the NGO in the community recently, the State Chairman of ACOMIN, John Ihua Maduenyi, emphasised the need for the community people to see the health facility as their own and do everything possible to protect it and access its services for their own benefits.
Our correspondent who covered the event reports that traditional rulers, youths, women, religious organisations, the National Union of Road Transport (NURTW), and health workers, were represented at the stakeholders meeting.
According to Maduenyi, “Luawii has been a peculiar health facility in the community. There was crisis in the community and everybody ran away, workers in the facility were withdrawn and the place was locked up.
“Years after the crisis was resolved, they tried to access the facility but it was still under lock until our CBOs were sent to the area.
“They got there and continued advocacy visit with the community people. They were able to identify the cause for the lockdown of the health facility.
“Though due consultations were made to make sure that the facility was opened and cleaned, the issue of health workers was still outstanding”, he said.
Maduenyi noted that during further advocacy visits to the Medical Officer of Health (MOH) in the Local Government Area, he promised to send health workers back to the facility but needed assurances that there would be sustained peace, protection of the workers and preparedness of the people to access services in the health center.
“All these were done and there was agreement that the people would attend the facility. The surrounding that was bushy and unkempt was cleaned. We expect that very soon work will commence fully in the community,” he said.
Acting Paramount Ruler of the Community, Chief Cook Nwiepih, commended the NGO for its efforts towards ensuring that the facility comes back to life and assured that the people would be further mobilized to see that they enjoy services of the facility again.
At Beeri Primary Health Care Center, which the body inspected at the end of the meeting at Luawii, the NGO expressed satisfaction with the state of things in the area.
The State chairman, TB Network for Rivers State, Messiah Fynface Musan, said, “it was remarkable what the CBOs on ground achieved. Youths in the community were mobilized to clear the premises, pulled out a big tree that fell on a structure in the premises, and provide good security.”
Muzan advised the people of any community with such health facility provided to them by the government to see it as their own and protect it instead of letting it rot away.