Ogun Govt. to rehabilitate 472 health centers- Commissioner

On Jan 19, 2024

The Ogun Government says it will rehabilitate 472 Primary Healthcare Centers (PHCs) in Gov. Dapo Abiodun’s second tenure to consolidate the administration’s gain in the health sector.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Tomi Coker, said this on Thursday at a retreat organised for the management in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies as well as health facilities in the health sector.

Coker said that at least 100 PHCs had been successfully rehabilitated in the governor’s first tenure.

He also said that the government had also invested massively in the renovation and equipping of PHCs with qualified health personnel and introduction of tricycle ambulances, among other facilities.

She promised that the stride would be sustained during the governor’s second term in office.

According to her, the health sector has become a fertile ground for innovative ideas, such as the ‘Hub and Spoke’ model of healthcare system, which is worthy of emulation by other states.

“In 2022, we decided to pilot the Hub and Spoke model of delivery of health care.

“His Excellency invested in ambulances and supported the formulation of a policy, where we had a guideline of referral methods from the Traditional Birth Attendants to the PHCs to secondary facilities and then the tertiary.

“From our findings, after six months, we realised that we have existing resources in the system to deliver better healthcare services and saw a 40 per cent increase in referrals from PHCs to secondary facilities,” Coker said.

She added that the retreat was conceived as a means of improving on the Ogun State Strategic Improvement Plan for the health sector, developed during a similar retreat in 2019.

One of the participants, the Chief Medical Director, Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Dr Olubunmi Fatungase, said the retreat would be an opportunity for leaders in the sector to cross-fertilise ideas on how to strengthen the healthcare system in the state.

NAN/Wumi