The health sector especially primary healthcare is one pivotal area of Gov Duoye Diri’s interest as he does everything possible to put it in its right position. JOY EMMANUEL writes on this.
Primary healthcare system is described as the first contact a patient has with the health system whenever there is a health-related problem or an issue that is not an emergency.It is the part of the health system that people use most often and may be provided, for example, by a general practitioner, physiotherapist or pharmacist.In Bayelsa state, this health system is very important due to its difficult terrain to access healthcare.
Executive secretary gives a download
Its executive secretary in the state, Dr Bekesu Amakepreye Martins, explained that the impact of the board is being felt in the hinterlands more than the city.
He said, “It has to be felt at the grass roots. Here, you have a lot of secondary and tertiary health institutions but at the hinterlands, that is the out-of-reach areas where you don’t have such capacity of personnel to manage people with health issues. So primary healthcare deals with people and health issues at the grassroots. We go to the nooks and crannies of the state. We go down to most out the out-of-reach areas to do the needful.”
Although the state government has advocated the need to pay more attention to the primary healthcare system towards ensuring effective and efficient management of disease control and public health but the major challenges are lack of sufficient manpower, a development that calls for more persons to be employed into the system.
Bayelsa as primary healthcare friendly state
Also, Governor Duoye Diri’s administration has so far been described as a health-friendly governor because of his quick response to issues in the primary health sector.
Dr Bekesu had therefore expressed gratitude to Governor Diri for sustaining the legacy of the former governor, Dickson in health and releasing part of the state counterpart funds for the board.
Although the board is barely two years in office, its activities at coordinating every health programme in all the eight local government areas in the state is to connect and make sure that pregnant women, for instance, deliver successfully. They also ensure that workers are properly placed to discharge their obligations in order to coordinate the primary health workers and ensure the sector is in good condition.
Gov Diri has therefore continued to give support to the primary healthcare even within his first 100 days in office. To him, over 70 to 80 percent of the health challenges that ravages the world are solvable through primary healthcare.
Governor Diri had received a report from the Ad-hoc Committee on Funding Challenges and other related issues of the Bayelsa State Primary Healthcare Development Board.
Senator Diri, passionate about the health sector recently decried the long neglect of the primary healthcare system in the country, noting that COVID-19 challenge would not have become an alarming pandemic if the government had paid adequate attention to that health sub-sector.
“So, if we have an effective primary health care system, we would also have an effective disease control and management system. The primary healthcare is the gateway to the entire health system.
“If we had deployed primary healthcare effectively in this country and even across the world, we wouldn’t have gotten to this stage of the COVID-19 pandemic that we are into now.
“So, you find out that it is a failure or lack of emphasis on primary healthcare that has taken us to where we are now.”
Governance is all about continuity
Immediate past governor, Seriake Dickson before leaving office convocated a summit on safe motherhood where the issues on maternal and infant mortality were discussed. The aim is to reduce maternal and infant mortality death in the state to the barest minimum.
Dr Amakepreye explained that the activities of the board are to coordinate every health programme in all the eight local government areas in the state and make sure that the pregnant women delivered successfully.
“To ensure that workers are properly placed and to coordinate the primary health workers and make sure that the health facilities are in good condition, we do a lot of outreaches. We also employ services of ad hoc staff to go to the outreach areas to immunise children on measles and for them to access health care. Our impact is felt in the hinterland to manage people with health issues. The issue of traditional birth attendants is that most of the women don’t understand the stages and complication of labour; they simply can’t identify the stages that come with prolonged labour.
“Since most of the traditional birth attendance do not understand the stages of labour the board has trained some of them to know when they have exceeded the capability in order to know the sign and symptoms of labour and when to escort to the nearest health facilities for delivery. These traditional birth attendants are also to assist us in not only taking care of pregnant women, but when the women are due they should bring them to the hospital.”
He therefore maintained that more pregnant women in the state have benefited from the state government’s free maternal care for pregnant women with a stipend of 3,000 naira given for their transport fare to clinics.”By my assessment, the governor is health-friendly. The Corona virus coupled with instability of the country, notwithstanding, whatever is the responsibility of the state government, he does without wasting time.”
He stated that even though the Corona virus pandemic has impacted adversely on governance world over, within the first to 100 days in office Governor Diri’s administration has seen timely approvals and releases of funds for the running of the board.
The executive secretary stated that through the provision of the said funds due to the board, the administrative heads and staff members of the board are now putting in their very best towards delivering on the mandate given to the board.
