By Stephen Adeleye.
The Kogi State Primary Health Care Development Agency (KSPHCDA), has trained health officials on quality assessment and implementation of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) in the state.
Speaking at the training centre on Thursday in Lokoja, the Executive Director of KSPHCDA, Dr Abubakar Yakubu, said the training would ensure quality improvement and assessment tools, processes and protocol for the fund.
Dr Yakubu noted that the State Government had already put in motion several activities on BHCPF, saying the participants would go back to the point of service delivery and assess the quality of services being rendered.
”The assessors at the state and local government level will now give us feedback, so that we will know where to adjust and improve upon.
He added that the agency was also building the capacity of a pool of trainers who will support health facilities in the development of quality improvement and business plan based on findings from the quality-of-care assessment.
The executive director advised the participants to be very upright and take the training very seriously, go back their various areas and do the right thing.
The Focal Person of BHCPF, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Shamsudden Saad, said the training was to leverage upon the existence of the BHCPF.
According to him, the BHCPF is a federal government programme which aim to increase fiscal space particularly primary healthcare.
He said government is giving one per cent of its Consolidated Revenue to the Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) to eliminate bureaucracy in delivering quality healthcare services to the citizens.
Saad stressed that the training would orient participants on BHCPF as an opportunity for the sustainability of the improved Quality of Care strategy.
Also speaking, Pharm. Eric Akoji, the Coordinator, Kogi State Health Partners’ Forum, said the BHCPF was very good initiative of the federal government supported by the state government.
Akoji stressed that the training would build the capacity of the assessors that would ensure quality health service delivery to citizens of the state.
On his part, the State’s Desk Office of BHCPF, Dr Bola Kelvin Jonah, said the participants were the state and LG quality assessors from the 21 local government areas of the state.
He said that the assessors would measure that the quality of care the agency had given so far, to know if the state is on the right track.
He added that the training would help to utilise the particular tool that had been developed to go into the health facilities and do quality assessment.
