NAN-H-52
Offices
By Sunday John
Lafia, Nov. 15, 2016 (NAN) A coalition of non-governmental organisations has called for the establishment of an office of the Nasarawa Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) in all 13 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state.
The Leader of the coalition, Mr Nawani Aboki, made the call on Tuesday when a delegation of the coalition visited the Executive Chairman of the agency in Lafia.
Aboki, who is also the Executive Director, Centre for Women, Youths and Community Action (NACWYCA) in the state, explained that establishing the offices, is part of the restructuring effort that the group is advocating.
He urged the state government to amend the current law establishing the agency to give room for proper restructuring of the organisation.
Aboki further urged the government to constitute a board for the agency to make the organisation more effective in service delivery.
“If the agency is properly structured, it will give room for checks and balances and enable it to access support from donor agencies to improve healthcare at the local level.
“If so much power is vested in an individual, it gives room for abuse of office and skepticism in terms of transparency that international donors look out for,’’ Aboki said.
He commended the state government for setting up the state primary health care agency and expressed the coalition’s commitment to complementing government’s effort towards improving healthcare at the grassroots.
The Executive Chairman, NPHCDA, Dr Mohammed Usman, who received the coalition, expressed appreciation for the visit and assured the team that the observations it made would be given due consideration.
He informed the team that the agency is in charge of monitoring and payment of salaries of all staff of primary health care centres in the state.
Usman assured the people in the rural communities of the state that the agency would ensure that they accessed proper healthcare at the lowest cost. (NAN)
SDJ/ESAN/YEE
Edited by Abiodun Esan/Emmanuel Yashim
================================