From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, has raised concerns about the deteriorating state of health care services in six northern states, namely, Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kaduna, Niger and Katsina.
Sultan said the major reason was that a large number of communities in the states have been destroyed by insurgents and bandits, and expectedly, its people were displaced, hence the difficulty in reaching out to them with health care services, especially the children that requires immunization services that are time bound.
The implications of the situation, according to Sultan, is that the imminent outbreak of an epidemic in these unreached communities could result in a serious healthcare crisis that could have a devastating effect on the health of all other communities.
Speaking at the second quarterly review meeting of the Northern Traditional Leaders Committee (NTLC) on Primary Health Care (PHC) delivery in Abuja, on Thursday, Sultan challenged the government to rise to the occasion to avert the pending imminent health care crisis.
Emir of Argungu, Alhaji Samaila Muhammad Mera, who is the Chairman of NTLC, in providing further explanation of the situation to journalists at the meeting, said the NTLC was seriously concerned with the development, hence an expanded meeting has been scheduled to hold in Kaduna and Sokoto, respectively, to fine-tune the measures to assist government tackle the issue.
He explained: “We had a discussion on the issue in January during the NTLC’s first quarterly meeting. In the end, we were charged to return to our communities to assess the situation and also engaged people in the lowest level of the traditional institutions to determine the real situation for further action.
“In some states, we got the records as regards age demography of the affected children. However, we have identified where some of the affected people are, and we are working with the lowest cadre of the traditional authorities to resolve the problems.
“There’s a meeting coming up in Kaduna and Sokoto soon where we would further the discussions. At the forthcoming meeting in Kaduna, we would take reports from the people sent to the local communities on the matter.
“The challenge is that many of the affected communities are nomadic in nature, meaning they are not stable in terms of place of residence. That makes it a bit difficult to reach out to them. Howbeit, we are working with partners to resolve these challenges. But the final decision on the way out would be taken at our forthcoming meeting in Kaduna and Sokoto.”
The Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, in his remarks, extolled the contributions of NTLC which, he said, culminated in improved PHC services in several northern states.
He said: “It’s 14 years anniversary of NTLC. It has been a formidable platform for robust engagements with traditional and community leaders on issues of PHC services, and the results have been impressive and encouraging. 70 per cent of our population lives in these rural communities. So, it’s important that adequate attention is given to the rural communities, particularly on issues of health.”
He disclosed that the NTLC meeting will focus on improved ways to access healthcare services and the opportunities that are being provided by technology and other innovations. “We are talking about deploying telemedicine, drones, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and others, to improve on services and supply chain.”
The NPHCDA boss, however, confirmed that the deployment of the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine will begin in September in some selected states identified to have a high burden of cervical cancer.
He added: “We have also deployed the rotavirus vaccine to reduce cholera disease in children. Not too long from now, we would deploy the malaria vaccine. These are all efforts to improve the lives and quality of Nigerian children.”