THE Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib has decried inadequate manpower in the primary healthcare facilities in states.
The Executive Director made the complaint on Tuesday in Dutse, Jigawa state capital while paying a courtesy visit to the state governor, Malam Umar Danmodi at the government house, describing inadequate human resources in its facilities as the biggest challenge in the country.
Dr Faisal Shua’ib disclosed that “the biggest challenge that we have in the primary healthcare in Nigeria is human resources. If we have adequate human resources then we would be able to improve the quality of healthcare delivery, we would be able to get primary healthcare centers where our citizens will excited about going because they know when they get there they will be treated with respect and dignity and care”.
He told the governor that he and his team are in the state to support the Diphtheria outbreak response and also to look at how to provide meaningful guidance and support towards strengthening the primary healthcare services as contained in your 12-point agenda.
According to him “Apart from coming to support, we also to acclaimed your leadership even in the last few days you assume as governor of this state, we already saying that the promises the possibilities in the primary healthcare is endless, like we have come since yesterday evening.
NPHDA commended the governor’s efforts on some of the initiatives that had been seen in the primary healthcare space. “Seen how JIgawa state demonstrated and contextualize many initiatives from the federal government”.
Dr Shua’ib expressed appreciation for the governor’s efforts towards addressing human resource gaps.
In his response, the governor Malam Umar Namadi Danmodi promised that the state government would continue supporting primary healthcare and also ensure that primary healthcare would be sustained in the state.
Danmodi explained that “in Jigawa state we consider primary healthcare very, very important in terms of our healthcare delivery system. We also recognize that of course human resources for health is very, very critical, and because of that we decided to reverse what local government autonomy brought us in the primary healthcare in terms of human resource”.
The governor maintained that “earlier on, we have a system in Jigawa state where all the staffs of primary healthcare are under the state’s primary healthcare development agency where the state primary healthcare agency has the responsibility of posting supervising, rewarding or disciplining the staffs.”
