By George Odok
Calabar – The Cross River government on Thursday, said it had revitalised 54 Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) within four years, to boost health service delivery in the state
Dr Inyang Asibong, Commissioner for Health in the state, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN) in Calabar, while listing some of her achievements in office since November 2015.
Asibong said the revitalisation was carried out with a view to making healthcare service accessible to residents in the state, especially those in the rural areas.
She added that the revitalisation was also aimed at achieving universal health coverage in the state and ensuring a healthy life for all.
“We have recorded tremendous achievement in the health sector under Gov. Ben Ayade. For now, we have three functional Primary Healthcare Centres in every local government; this amounts to 54 revitalised centres across the state.
“More so, renovation work is ongoing, and very soon, we will put other centres to work. Currently, there are 1,031 primary healthcare facilities spread across the state for health delivery.
“The need is to strengthen service delivery in view of the increased demand for health services at the secondary and tertiary level of care,’’ she said.
She told NAN that three AyadeCare Referral Hospitals were currently under construction simultaneously across the three Senatorial District of the state to complement the desire for improved healthcare in the state.
The commissioner further said that the ministry under her leadership hosted the Cross River Health Summit in 2017 and the Cross River Council on Health in 2018 with a view to improving heath delivery.
She said that the focus of the two events were to create a platform for engagement and synthesising the opinions of Crossriverians on achieving Universal Health Coverage and to make available, quality and affordable healthcare to all citizens.
The commissioner said that the Calabar Pharmaceutical Company, `CalaPham’ was 75 per cent completed; adding that the registration process with the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria and the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control was ongoing.
“Also, our six schools of nursing are one of the bests in the country and our students are doing great,’’ asibong said.
She told NAN that staff of the ministry were sponsored to attend relevant conferences during the period under review to boost their practices.
On employment, she said that the state government employed 1,000 health workers in January across different cadres to be fully integrated into the health workforce.
The commissioner added that there had been a significant boost in the quantity of health workers which she said placed an increased demand on efficient planning, supervision and standard for quality control.
“I must specially thank Gov. Ayade for finding me worthy and capable to serve in the health ministry in his first administration,’’ she said.