Health workers in Enugu advocate for provision of logistics

Considering the importance of health and the challenges faced by health officers in making sure that people at the rural areas are adequately attended to especially during immunisations programmes, health officers working in various local governments of Enugu State have advocated for the involvement of local government chairmen in making activities easier for the officers.

Davidson Ofor, one of the health officers in Awgu Local Government Area, said a major challenge faced by health workers at the local government areas in Enugu State is inadequate provision of logistics.

He however commended some local government chairmen who made promises but regretted that most of those promises come after the event has come and gone, thereby defeating the aim of it.

The health officer therefore called on the local government chairmen not to leave the sponsorship of programmes that has to do with primary healthcare in the hand donors and state governments alone.

“Primary healthcare cannot be effectively carried out if it is left only in the hands of state governments and international donor agencies.”

They also called on the chairmen to see provision of basic amenities in health centres as a major priority to encourage the workers who go into the hinterland.

Some other challenges, the health workers said, are perimeter fencing, security and provision of accommodation for the health officers working in the health centres, etc. Some other things looked at were the locations of some of the health centres which they said should not be political but be sited at the centre for easy accessibility of the people.

Provision of fridges and stand-by generators for the preservation of vaccines and other drugs, construction of placenta pits, burn-and-bury pits for disposal of wastes generated.

It is therefore very important for local government chairmen who are very close to the people at the grassroots, to look inwards and address those issues that could lead to improvement of  healthcare delivery in the rural areas. They also enjoined communities to also compliment the efforts of the government in the provision of some of these facilities.

Regis Anukwuoji