Improved Community Access To Health Facilities Excites NGO

A Non-Governmental Organisation, Civil Society for Malaria Control, Immunisation and Nutrition (ACOMIN), has expressed delight with the increased involvement of community people in activities going on in health facilities in Rivers State.
Chairman of ACOMIN in the State, Chief John Ihua-Maduenyi, stated this at a meeting held in Port Harcourt with Executive Directors and other relevant stakeholders to review activities of the body for the year.
Maduenyi noted that with the advocacy efforts of the NGO, more community persons now access health services in public health facilities across the state.
“We have succeeded in getting the community persons involved in the activities going on in health facilities in the state.
“They now see the health facilities as their own and now willingly go there to receive treatment as required of them and we are happy with this, compared to what we had before”, he said.
He, however, called for greater collaboration by stakeholders to enable more people come out in full support of the project so that more members of the communities would benefit.
He also charged the Executive Directors to take their jobs more seriously and to always follow up what was being done by their programme officers.
Ihua-Maduenyi emphasized the need for improved documentation of activities, saying record or log books of their activities must be available at the facility and in their various offices .
He noted that lack of doctors and stock out in drugs, remain the major challenges confronting the project.
Recounting their success stories in their various communities where they cover, participants said with sustained advocacy, there was change of attitude by health workers as they were not only more regular and punctual, but were also no longer harsh to patients.
They also observed that those who were scared of taking COVID-19 vaccination now willingly submit themselves for vacation.
They observed cleaner environment of the facilities, regular meetings and contributions by stakeholders, amongst other successes.

By: Sogbeba Dokubo