Stakeholders Call For Improved Access To Clean Reliable Energy In Primary Healthcare Delivery
Oru Leonard
With less than 6,000 of the over 30,000 (about 20 percent) Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs), in Nigeria working effectively, stakeholders in the health and energy industry have called for improved access to Clean Reliable Energy for these PHCs in Nigeria.
The information was contained in a research result summarised in a stakeholders forum organised to discuss and proffer solution to the dilapidated access to clean reliable energy to improve primary healthcare delivery in Nigeria. The Lead Researcher Ms Tsema Okoye who gave the summary, noted that many of the PHCs are in remote rural locations and peri-urban communities, where access to grid electricity is limited.
Ms Okoye quoting the World Bank, said that over 80 million Nigerians representing 60% of the country’s population lack access to grid electricity. These and many more findings, led to the convening of a High Level Stakeholder Engagement in Abuja, to achieve solutions through dialogue.
The Convener, Head of Good Governance Team (GGT), and a Co-lead Researcher in the access to clean reliable electricity in PHCs, Mr. Tunde Salman, said that majority of the primary healthcare centres, particularly those located in rural areas and most communities are not functioning at optimal levels. He also revealed that some of the health centres in the rural areas close as early as 2 pm.
Mr Tunde said this while giving the report of an index study conducted on the connection between primary healthcare and availability of light, which sampled 60 Primary Health Care Centres, 10 in each of the area councils in the Federal Capital Territory.
He noted that dilapidated infrastructure, the disconnection from the national grid where some of those facilities are connected to the grids and majority of the locations are not connected to the grid.
“What’s the essence of building 30, 000 Primary Healthcare Centres that are not functioning? Majority of these Primary Healthcare Centres are not put to optimal use because of lack of water, lack of electricity, and energy is central even to the provision of water”, he expressed.
He pointed out that health is an essential social service, adding that the Primary Healthcare Centres with solar technology can offload some of the excess electricity.
The report further recommended that: “When building new PHCs, care must be taken to ensure that proper provisions are made to ensure they are functional; Central to their functionality should be adequate provision of equipment and clean reliable energy to power the facilities.
“PHCs particularly those located in remote places should be eligible to benefit from the Power Consumer Assistant Fund.
“Rural Electrification Agency, in collaboration with National Primary Healthcare Development Agency(NPHCDA), can provide off-grid solar PV systems with battery backup to thousands of PHCs across the country”.
The moderator of the forum, Mr Jaye Gaskia called for education of the staff operating the PHCs to ensure that what was provided would have optimal use. “It is important for us to give better attention to quality and not only the quantity of the funds and how they are disbursed and utilised”, he said.
While speaking, the Project Coordinator, Heinrich Böll Foundation Nigeria, Donald Ofoegbu, said that there was need conven stakeholders because without Electricity, efforts to enhance human capital development is bound to fail.
He stressed the urgent need to review the energy experiences in PHCs and explore new thinking, new partnership and new avenues to scale-up practices that can remedy the connection between improving access to clean reliable electricity which is necessary to improve the operations of Primary Healthcare Centres in Nigeria; thus forcing a turnaround in the country’s poor health indicators.
Earlier in his opening remarks, the Executive Director, Rural Electrification Agency(REA) Dr. Sanusi Ohiare, said that providing and increasing energy access through clean reliable energy is critical to delivering the required socioeconomic benefits that would improve lives in Nigeria.
Ohiare noted that through various pilot projects within the context of rural electrification, it has been proven that clean reliable energy technologies, its economics and business models work especially for enhancing small and medium businesses, creating wealth and stimulating wider development co-benefits where health facilities becomes anchors for distributed energy generation in new communities.
According to him, “We are in no doubt about the capacity of leveraging clean reliable energy potential to transform and catalyse a sustainable PHC across the country. But to do this, we must identify new brokerage opportunities that can drive improved access to electricity for PHCs”.
In his goodwill message, the Chairman of Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), Barrister Victor Muruako related his experience as a former chairman of a local government, and said that achieving an effective clean reliable energy at the rural areas will be achieved better and faster if the local government chairmen were autonomous.
He called for regular citizens engagements with their leaders on government projects citing Section 51 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act which stated “A person shall have legal capacity to enforce the provision of this Act by obtaining prerogative orders or other remedies at the Federal High Court, without having to show any special particular interest”.
Victor urged Nigerians to support the Local Government autonomy drive of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The lack of electricity in PHCs has contributed to lots of deaths and permanent disabilities in Nigeria, especially women and children, so the maiden high level multi-stakeholder solution driven forum is expected to carve a path for improved primary healthcare services delivery in Nigeria by triggering and exploring avenues to achieve clean reliable electricity access for public health facilities in rural areas.
