It is exhilarating and necessary to appreciate the spectacular amount of money in the tune of N500, 000,000 released by the State Governor Chief Willie Obiano to the 37 general hospitals across Anambra state to reinvent the once forgotten “drugs revolving fund” practiced in old Anambra state.
It is expected that the drug revolving fund will be diligently expended and properly accounted for in the purchase of all drugs and sundry medications by the officials in the public health offices so that patients will have value for the remarkable health care delivery initiative of the ebullient and focused Chief Executive of the state.
Hitherto, public health institutions in the state were never reckoned with by perceptive and health conscious people in view of serial dilapidation and unimpressive medical facilities and attention by medical personnel. But this unfortunate perception should have been the other way round, since government has the financial where-withal to strategically and optimally position public health institutions, as proverbial medical tourist destination seen in advanced and industrialized countries of the world.
The importance of Governor Obiano’s significant and noble move to reposition the health-care delivery system in the state is a practical demonstration that his government really knows the overwhelming importance of priority setting in public sector administration. It is lamentable that past military and civilian administrations rarely demonstrated knowledge of priority setting and scale of preference among the competing needs in public sector administration of resources. The outcome has been the proverbial motion without movement. In other words, the zeal and grim determination of some governors to provide the masses with basic infrastructural facilities and amenities were observable but what was woefully lacking was demonstration of abstruse and well versed knowledge in public sector management. Priority setting or scale of preference is integral in planning process and implementation of projects and programmes to impact tremendously on the strategic and critical necessities, given the hierarchy of needs of man according to Abraham Maslow’s theory of hierarchy of needs.
In the prioritization of provision of basic infrastructural facilities and amenities, one would mention adequate health care delivery system, followed by maximum security and pragmatic education policy. Due to ineffective governance in the country, life expectancy has been degenerating due to scant attention to adequate health care delivery, which logically affects quality productivity in the calculation of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the country.
Efforts should therefore be made to deploy more financial resources in the health sector in terms of rehabilitating the deteriorating infrastructure in the health centres across the 177 communities in Anambra state. The immediate and ultimate beneficiaries will be the rural dwellers who will feel the impact of the repositioned health sector. To this end therefore, there should be immediate recruitment of medical personal, especially medical doctors and nurses to be posted to all the public health centres in the communities. In the course of treatment, serious cases should be referred to the general hospitals in the local government council areas.
It stands to reason that the repositioning of the 37 general hospitals and the health centres in all the 177 communities will save the people a great deal in terms of unconscionable exploitation in private medical hospitals, risk of taking adulterated and substandard drugs from patent medicine dealers and drug hawkers roaming the streets and parts of the hinter lands.
•Polycarp Onwubiko, Awka, Anambra State.
