Delta Government To Go Tough On Management Of Private, Public Hospitals

Failure to submit the mandatory health data, including that of Integrated Disease Surveillance Response across Delta State,the state government has concluded plans to begin the enforcement on the management of private and public hospitals.

The government also advised them to take opportunity of relevant training opportunities to improve and imbibe internationally best practices in the health sector across the state.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. (Mrs.) Minnie Oseji, gave the revelation Thursday in Agbor, Ika South local government council, during a One-Day Sensitization programme on Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response organized by the State Ministry of Health in collaboration with the World Health Organization.

She said the main objective of the training is to ensure that all public and private health facilities in the State have health workers whose capacity has been built to improve the Integrated Disease Surveillance Response reporting in the State.

Dr. Oseji revealed that Delta State has been poliomyelitis free for an uninterrupted eight years period due to the surveillance activities by health workers evident in their facilitation of control of priority diseases, conditions and events that are both communicable and non-communicable in nature.

She added that with improved reporting on diseases, epidemic prone diseases would be detected very early hence, leading to prompt response and ultimately reducing case of fatality to the barest minimum.

In his remark, the State Epidemiologist Dr. Richard Ikeogwu, stated that it has been discovered that the reports from the health facilities are not what it out to be hence this training, which would bring about improved and adequate reporting of disease cases and up to dates information about the state of health of Deltans.

He said the training would avail participants the opportunity to know the various channels which they ought to report on so that they would know the relevant officers to contact in case of health emergencies especially for those epidemic prone diseases.

Dr. Ikeogwu said that health workers have an important role to play in disease surveillance hence this training is apt as the gained knowledge would help guide against delays in the detection and response to public health emergencies that leads to unnecessary loss of lives.

The health workers that participated in the training include record officers, nurses, doctors, disease surveillance and notification officers amongst others drawn from Ika South and Ika North-East Local Government Areas.