Cletus Shurkuk, commissioner for Health in Plateau State, is a thoroughbred health professional. He is a trained medical doctor of many years standing. In this interview with INIOBONG IWOK, he spoke on the achievements of the Governor of Plateau State, Caleb Mutfwang on the health sector since he assumed office and the challenges facing health care delivery in the state and the country at large. Excerpts:
What are the achievements so far since you assumed office as the commissioner for health in Plateau State under Caleb Mutfwang?
Well, in the last one year, there are lots of achievements in the health sector on the Plateau under the present administration of Caleb Mutfwang. First of all, it will also interest you to know that since the coming on board of his Excellency, the executive governor of Plateau State, the state-owned specialist hospital before his coming was not functioning optimally; there is just only one specialty of medicine; so, he has graciously approved the commencement of others and core area of training for medicine which will improve the situation of things in the areas of obstetrics, pediatrics, genecology as well as surgery, and based on that he has given a waiver for the employment of consultant, and secondly, I am happy also to inform you that about twenty consultants have been employed so that it will help to speed the commencement of resident doctors and most of them have started the training. In addition to that too, he has also approved the sum of N36 billion in order to equip the state specialist laboratory because before his coming on board the Laboratory was not functional and there is no way we can have a quality healthcare without having the laboratory equipped and that is why he approved that amount so that the laboratory will be equipped. And also, when he came on board, we met a healthcare system that was upside down and he actually intervened and within a short period of time their salary was reviewed and the healthcare workers in Plateau State are currently enjoying an improved salary package compared to what it was previously, and the doctors’ salaries were increased by up to ninety percent and they are also being paid seventy five percent hazard allowances. He did that to ensure that the workers put in their best. He also released some funds to revitalise the primary healthcare facilities in the state and that he did to ensure that the people of the state wherever they are should be able to have access to healthcare facility. And also, there is the issue of manpower and human resources; you know, it is a national problem coupled with the ‘japa’ syndrome. So, we are trying to see how we can curtail that and there is an issue of ongoing discussion with the teaching hospitals in the state to see how the state will partner them to ensure that some of their specialists are on a schedule arrangement in order to offer their specialty to the people of the state.
And the healthcare insurance scheme has received a boost since coming on board; there is a relief in accessing healthcare programme to ensure that more people are enrolled into the programme and have improved the emergency programme especially in providing ambulances in case of emergency. Some of the staff have been sent for training outside the state to acquire more knowledge so that when they come back they will manage the facilities very well for the betterment of the state.
What are the peculiar challenges facing the health sector in the state?
Just like I have said before, one of the major challenges facing the health sector is the issue of human resource for health; manpower, moribund structure because it is a national challenge. So, Plateau State is not exempted from that and then also generally, when he came on board he found out the structures he met on ground were moribund and is more or less a moribund healthcare system where things were not working and that is why he is working hard in making sure that those things are working.
Moreover, he wants to see how those structures can be renovated, re-equipped and get the manpower that can manage those structures effectively for the use and benefit of Plateau people. And since he come on board, we have started renovating some of the facilities and some of them have been equipped and there is also plan, not just only the tertiary, also the secondary is also being equipped so that the healthcare workers have facilities that are conducive, fit-for-purpose and give their best. This will boost their morale and make them happy to do their work.
Can you still speak more on how the government is tackling the challenges facing healthcare delivery in Plateau State?
Just like I have said, for the short time we are making solution to address the issue of manpower; we are trying also to see that we can establish an memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the University of Jos Teaching Hospital so that we can benefit from their expertise. Although we have our own state University teaching hospital, the challenge is that when the doctors are through with their training, the prefer to leave the shore of this country to go and practise outside. The governor is looking to see how we can have our own state medical school so that we can admit students to enable us have more number of healthcare personnel, especially medical doctors because we have deficiencies in that area.
It will also interest you to know that when the governor came on board, because of the passion he has for the healthcare sector, he was able to raise some funds for the University of Jos to ensure that the dentistry programme they are running will begin to produce graduates. They were not producing graduates and he made those contributions to ensure that all those things that are delaying them from graduating their students are taken care of. He wants them to contribute to the development of the healthcare sector in the state.
As a healthcare expert and a medical doctor, how worried are you that Nigeria is still very low and backward in healthcare delivery system?
Yes; I am worried and why am I worried? I am worried because at this age Nigeria should have gone far when it comes to health care delivery but unfortunately, we are in a situation where there are so many factors that are involved because when you look at health care delivery you have to look at it holistically because it operates like a system because once any part of the system is affected, may be, the higher system will actually not going to function. So, that is essentially what is happening in the health care system. And it is not that we don’t have the experts, but because most of our professionals are the ones that are working in the developed countries and you find out that most of the time the decay has been going on for a long period of time. It is not something you wake up one day and change the narrative. It is going to be a gradual process and in doing that all the other sectors that are involved- you look at the leadership, the facilities, the manpower and so many other things- because until we look at that if not whatever we going to do will actually not provide the solution but once all those things are looked at holistically, then we can fix some of those challenges we are trying to. Again, we are also looking at the possibility of bringing in the private sector in the areas of private partnership to see how those challenges can be mitigated for the good of the Plateau people and Nigerians as a whole.
What is the concrete way forward now?
Yes, you see the way forward for us in the health sector is for us who are also in the government to also sit down to see how we can provide an enabling environment and to ensure that health care workers are satisfied, right equipment are provided and the right personnel also available. The issue of insecurity must also be tackled. Where there is no peace, whatever you bring or put in place, definitely people may not want to go to such places to work. But once the professionals see all those things sorted out, they would be more than willing to go.
Are you saying that the security challenges facing the country particularly Plateau State has in any way affected the health care delivery system in the last one year?
Well, I may not have the exact statistics but the crisis that bedeviled some parts of the state in the last few months around December down to January and February affected like three local government areas and some of the health care facilities in those areas were burnt down and the people there couldn’t access health care facilities, and so, most of them have to move to IDPs camps and you know the issue of IDPs camp because there are so many health challenges that usually happen in IDPs camps. So, once people cannot have access to health care facility you know that it is a problem. That has contributed to the increased number of IDPs which has also affected the well-being of the people but generally because of the insecurity you find out that there are places that many of the health care workers wouldn’t want to go because of the security challenges in such areas. You know, one key factor in improving the quality of health care is the presence of skilled health care workers, but if you have the facilities and you don’t have the skilled health care workers, you know that definitely your statistics on health care will be on the downward trend. So, insecurity has significantly affected the quality of health care delivery in the state.
Finally, can you give us an overview of the achievements of the executive governor of Plateau State so far in office?
Yes, the other things I didn’t mention before when he came on board, he provided an enabling environment for partners to work together and was able to get about three million insecticide-treated nets that was distributed across all the seventeen local governments in the state. And also one of the things he has also done was to pay the counterpart fund to ensure that the state has state-of-the-act medical stores where our drugs will be procured and as I am talking to you the project is more than ninety percent completed and as soon as it is completed every drugs that will come into the state will have to pass through that place to ensure the issue of fake drugs and everything is brought down to the minimal level in the state. And for the residents programme that will ensure that the doctors that will graduate from there will also bring in their wealth of expertise to different level of health care in the state and that will also go a long way to help solve the issue of health care reform and delivery. And also, he employed consultants in a short period of time about twenty-two, and you know what it tells you when it comes to the issue of improvement in the health care facility, and I also told you that he has also approved some amount of money to ensure that some of the primary health care will also be rehabilitated and revitalised so that people can now have access to health care facility. Before the health care insurance, I also mention that he has also approved about two billion Naira to ensure that the state-owned tertiary hospital, that is the Plateau State Specialist Hospital, has well-equipped laboratory that can also offer premium diagnostic laboratory test for all the people in Plateau State.
And for the health care insurance scheme too, he has almost released about two hundred million Naira to ensure that people access their health care as and when due. And I also told you that because of that we have noticed an increase in the number of enrollees and also hope we will get more in no distant future. And I also mentioned that he helped the federal-owned institution, that is the University of Jos, to see that the dentistry students that have been in the Institution are able to graduate and was able to support the University with the sum of N50 million.
