By: Monday Danladi, Bauchi
Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Abubakar Y. Suleiman has stressed the importance of Community Health Workers (CHEWs), in effective and efficient healthcare service delivery across the country.
The Speaker made the assertion while giving a keynote remarks at the 2024 National Scientific Conference of the National Association of Community Health Practitioners of Nigeria (NACHPN), held in Bauchi on Tuesday.
Abubakar Y Suleiman stressed that community health is the concern of everyone in Bauchi state, the more reason the government is doing everything possible to improve the sector.
The Speaker also stressed that, “Bauchi State is the home to community health practice, across the state, there PHCs and other primary health facilities where the services of Community Health Workers are required.”
According to him, “Whether you like it or not, Community Health Workers are the drivers of primary healthcare services delivery because they are found all over where a facility is located.”
The Speaker added that, “In Bauchi state, we have a total of 323 PHCs manned by CHEWs. You are always the first personnel to be contacted in every facility. We therefore value your contributions to improved service delivery in the health sector.”
Abubakar Suleiman assured that the Assembly will always support actions that will improve the working conditions of CHEWs in the state urging them to be more professionals in the performance of their duties.
He also urged the leadership of the NACHPN to always keep abreast with the current development so that they will be able to do what is expected of them with the current trends.
Also speaking, the Emir of Dass, Usman Bilyaminu Othman II called on Governments at all levels of governance in the country, to as a matter of urgency, employ more Community Health Workers (CHEWs) if the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is to be achieved.
The Emir who is the Co-Chair of Bauchi State Taskforce of Primary Healthcare stressed that the importance of Community Health Workers (CHEWs) in effective and efficient healthcare service delivery cannot be overemphasized.
The Emir added that the first personnel in every PHC is a CHEW who is always working round the clock for healthcare service delivery before others workers will later join in the service delivery.
He therefore called that more of the CHEWs should be employed to make primary healthcare delivery services more available to the people at the communities.
According to him, “As we were growing up, we knew the Community Health Workers who moved from house to house to ensure that the environment was kept clean in order to avoid diseases that are transmitted through dirty environment.”
The Traditional Ruler also said that with new development in the health sector, Community Health Workers need important roles to play in the scheme of things.
