The Ogun State government says it will rehabilitate 472 Primary Healthcare Centers (PHCs) in Governor Dapo Abiodun’s second tenure to consolidate the administration’s gain in the health sector.

The Commissioner for Health, Tomi Coker, said this on Thursday at a retreat organised for the management in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies and health facilities.

Ms Coker said that at least 100 PHCs were rehabilitated successfully in Mr Abiodun’s first tenure.

She also said the government had invested massively in renovating and equipping PHCs with qualified health personnel and introducing tricycle ambulances, among other facilities.

The commissioner promised that the stride would be sustained during the governor’s second term in office.

Ms Coker said the health sector has become a fertile ground for innovative ideas, such as the ‘Hub and Spoke’ healthcare system model, which is worthy of emulation by other states.

“In 2022, we decided to pilot the Hub and Spoke model of delivery of health care.

“His Excellency invested in ambulances and supported the formulation of a policy, where we had a guideline of referral methods from the traditional birth attendants to the PHCs to secondary facilities and then the tertiary.

“From our findings, after six months, we realised that we have existing resources in the system to deliver better healthcare services and saw a 40 per cent increase in referrals from PHCs to secondary facilities,” Ms Coker said.

She said the retreat was conceived to improve the Ogun State Strategic Improvement Plan for the health sector, which was developed during a similar retreat in 2019.

One of the participants, the chief medical director of the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Olubunmi Fatungase, said the retreat would be an opportunity for leaders in the sector to cross-fertilise ideas on how to strengthen the healthcare system in the state.

(NAN)