The Federal Government says measures have been put in place to make Primary Health Care Centres in rural areas attractive for health workers.
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said this in Abuja on Thursday during the World Health Day, as the World Health Organisation (WHO) turns 75.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the 2023 World Health Day is ”Health for All –Strengthening PHC to Build Resilient Systems”, while the theme of the World Health Workers Week is “Investing in the Health Work Force”.
Ehanire said that health workers preferred to practice in cities, thereby depleting manpower in healthcare facilities in rural areas.
He added that ”government is trying to make rural PHCs more attractive, as plans have
been put in place to build staff quarters to address accommodation problems.
”The lack of staff quarters has been a problem because health workers don’t have a place to stay when sent to rural areas.
”We will ensure provision of water, electricity or solar energy to have light in the centres for better performance to encourage health worker to stay in the rural areas.
“We are also making provision for ambulances that will make transportation easy for patients and health workers.”
According to him, another incentive from government is to focus on particular caregivers of health workers that are specialised in a particular area.
Ehanire added that the Federal Government had urged state and local governments to establish schools of health technology where rural health workers would be trained.
He explained that the workers could be trained in local languages to enable them to easily communicate with the rural citizens.
According to him, government also encourages the state and local governments to nominate health workers from their communities to be trained for better understanding and improved communication.
The minister said government was planning to make use of digital technology to make communication easier for medical personnel and patients to enhance better outcome.
“We hope that all our measures will encourage the state and local governments to prioritise employment and payment of rural health workers, especially the PHC workers.
“This is because PHCs are under the payroll of state and local governments.”
He said that the Federal Government, in a bid to reverse poor health indices and provide Universal Health Coverage, initiated the revitalisation of about 10,000 PHCs nationwide, adding that more than 4,000 PHCs have so far been worked to ensure quality services.
