Cross River Government has vowed to sanction Primary Healthcare facilities that charge more than N3,000 for delivery.
The Director-General of the Cross River Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Janet Ekpenyong, said this during an integrated meeting with PHC Ward Focal Persons and the State Basic Healthcare Provision Scheme in Calabar.
Ekpenyong said that the agency had received complaints that some PHCs charge as much as N10,000.
She explained that “the PHCs are supposed to charge just N3,000 for delivery to purchase consumables and this is only when they don’t come with their own consumables as stated on the list initially given to them.
“We are looking at ways to encourage pregnant women to patronise health facilities instead of Traditional Birth Attendants.
“While we totally condemn these actions, we have set up a team headed by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health
to ensure that culpable PHCs and personnel are adequately penalised.”
She said that out of the 196 PHCs in the state, more than 130 have been accredited for the Cross River Basic Healthcare Insurance scheme, adding that “as the scheme grows, other PHCs will be accredited too.”
She warned officials of the PHCs to be aware that they would either encourage or discourage clients from coming back to their facilities by their attitude.
On his part, Mr. Godwin Iyala, the Director-General, Cross River Basic Healthcare Provision Scheme, said the scheme is essential to the health of pregnant women and during childbirth.
Iyala said, “the PHCs were picked in a bid to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) because they are the closest to the people.”
According to him, 50 laptops are being distributed to the PHCs accredited for the Basic Healthcare Provision Scheme.
He added that “the laptops, which have been configured, are for record-keeping and transfer of information for the scheme in the PHCs.
“Every month, the PHCs will be paid based on the number of enrollees they have, after proper monitoring and evaluation by a third party administrators that will go round the facilities from time to time,” he explained.
The director-general also said that the programme was organised to achieve service delivery, adding that the agency had zero tolerance for irregularities from PHCs.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Health, Dr. David Ushie, appealed to officials to treat customers with respect as patients’ satisfaction is key to the success of the scheme.
(NAN)
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