Ekiti State Government has denied the claim of a particular online publication on the Primary Healthcare Facility of the State.
According to the statement by the Honourable Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr. Oyebanji Filani, “Our attention has been drawn to an unfounded claim by Sahara Reporters that the immediate past Governor of Ekiti State, His Excellency Dr Kayode Fayemi, spent 91 billion naira on a PHC facility that is abandoned. This amount (N91bn) was the total revised budget for the state in 2021”.
The Ekiti State Ministry of Health wishes to state clearly that this claim is outrageously false and intended to misinform the public saying that the facility is a community project carried out by a former local government chairman and is not under the administration of the Ekiti State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (EKSPHCDA).
The public is hereby invited to note the following:
i. In line with the PHCUOR policy, the government of Ekiti State has established fully functional PHCs in all 177 wards in Ekiti state, thereby bringing healthcare closer to our communities.
ii. In 2021, the State government procured brand new life-saving medical and distributed this across these primary healthcare centres. This is in addition to staff redistribution and our NYSC plus program, designed to increase the availability of health workers in our facilities.
iii. Leveraging the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF), the State government purchases an explicit package of services which enables lens of thousands of pregnant women, under- five children and the elderly to access hearth services in these PHCs at no cost to them
iv. To create awareness and drive demand for these services, signposts were erected in all 16 LGAs in the State, to display the package of services rendered in these fully functional PHCs. The health promotion department of the Ekiti State Ministry of Health also carries out periodic awareness programmes to further sensitise the people of Ekiti State.
v. In addition to the work done in primary healthcare, the State government also invested significantly in renovating 12 high-burden General Hospitals out of 22 in the State, equipped with modern facilities, to serve as referral centres to the PHCs. Our tertiary health facilities were also not left behind, with the renovation of the eye and dental care centres and the establishment of a new Intensive Care Unit
vi. Beyond infrastructure, the impact of all these investments is evident in the State’s overall health performance and outcomes. Currently, Ekiti State has an immunisation coverage rate of 85% the highest coverage for routine immunisation (Rl) in the Southwest and 4th highest in Nigeria.
vii. Ekiti State has consistently been recognised as having the best-performing disease surveillance team in Nigeria among other laudable achievements.
The public is hereby advised to completely disregard the misleading information and apply caution when reading outrageous headlines intentionally crafted to create shock value.
“We would like to state that reliable information on the State’s health sector can be obtained from the Ministry of Health and Human Services through the Office of the honourable Commissioner for Health.
“We encourage everyone to refrain from spreading false information that could create mistrust in the health system. The good health, well-being and development of Ekiti State remain a major priority for us”.
