Stakeholders in HIV AIDS, Malaria, TB control laud Plateau gov for improved funding
Stakeholders in the treatment and eradication of AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (ATM Network) in Plateau state have lauded Governor Caleb Muftwang for hearkening to their plea for increased funding and recruitment of staff in the health sector to improve service delivery especially in primary healthcare centres in the state.
Speaking at Global Fund Grant Cycle 7 COVID 19 Response Mechanism Project (GF7 C19RM) Media Round Table Meeting in Jos, the Plateau State Programme Officer, Global Fund/NACA C19 Response Mechanism Project, Peter Ezekiel, the Plateau TB Eradication Coordinator, Daniel Mancha, Programme Officer Plateau State AIDS Control Agency (PLACA), Joy Inuwa Jamaika, Director, Product & Quality Assurance, Plateau State Drugs and Medical Commodity Management Agency (PS-DMCMA, Meshak Dayol, State M&E Officer, Plateau State TB, Leprosy and Buruli Ulcer Programme (PSTBLCP), Bot Yohanna Toma, and Traditional Ruler, Da Dung D. Jok said that government intervention had greatly made it possible for complementarity in the work of the ATM and community based organisations (CBOs) in tackling the menace posed by the diseases.
Ezekiel said that the government has intervened in the shortage of staff by recruiting 1,700 personnel in the health sector. Of this number, he said that 250 staff were recruited to work in the general hospitals, while 1,450 were recruited to work in the primary healthcare facilities.
He said, “So far so good the project has achieved more and advocacy carried out has yielded enough results. Well, our most damping challenge before now is that there are inadequate health workers in most of the primary healthcare facilities. There has been a loud cry all this while, but thank God for the government of His Excellency, Barrister Caleb Mutfwang, who has approved the engagement of 1,700 workers for the state, health workers. And we believe this will at least reduce, even though there is still promise for more to be approved in the coming year, at least this is a start.
And we call this a remarkable achievement that is prompted by this project from our advocacies and advocacies of other partners working in the state. Now the government is prioritizing employing volunteers in the newest recruitment to be conducted and also of this approval for 1,700 staff, 250 goes to the general Hospital then 1450 is for the primary health care facilities
“This, we believe, will improve the service delivery and make sure that the waiting time is reduced to its barest minimum and also volunteer empowerment; volunteer engagement is going to be encouraged as a result of these volunteers that are going to be engaged. So we thank the global for NACA and the ATM network for their continued support to have helped us to achieve this feat.
Mancha, who is the TB Network, Plateau State, Project Team Lead, said that the programme has brought a lot of successes in regard to service uptake.
He said, “Like I said during the media roundtable, initially we have people that have to leave their communities like before in tuberculosis issues to leave our state, go to the Bauchi state to access drugs because of what we suffered last year, but now as part of the success story we have achieved a lot and we’re still trusting that we’re going to achieve even more because of we are working with time in terms of planning and budgeting the drugs that’s supposed to be given in each facility. Now we have sufficient drugs in all the Direct Observation and Treatment (DOT) centers under trained personnel
Bot, of the state TB and leprosy control programme, said a lot of successes have also been recorded in tuberculosis treatment and control, adding that the recent releases of counterpart funding by Governor Mutfwang had assisted the work of the TB control programme.
The Director of Production and Quality Assurance, Dayol, who represented the Executive Secretary of the Plateau State Drugs and Medical Commodities Management Agency, said that the recent approval of N750 million by the governor and the release of N400 million has reinforced government confidence in the viability of the agency.
The traditional rule, Da Dung D. Jok, who lauded the achievements of the ATM networks, said that it has made drugs available in clinics in the local areas. “This programme has been successful because in most of the clinics that we went through, they had shortages of manpower, but with this now, you know, we will rest assured that the clinics will be up and doing, We will have more staff that will be working and we had volunteers being paid by the government.
