NPHCDA anxious over state rivalry

Executive director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, (PHCDA), Ado Muhammad, has cautioned against rivalry between health commissioners and executive secretaries of newly created PHCDAs in the states. At the 58th National Council on Health held in Sokoto, Muhammad met with health commissioners and counterpart executive secretaries who head the PHCDAs, and advised […]

Executive director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, (PHCDA), Ado Muhammad, has cautioned against rivalry between health commissioners and executive secretaries of newly created PHCDAs in the states.
At the 58th National Council on Health held in Sokoto, Muhammad met with health commissioners and counterpart executive secretaries who head the PHCDAs, and advised them not to fight their commissioners, a statement from the agency said.
According to the National Health Act, only states with PHCDA can get primary health care funding from a budgetary health fund that will reside with the national agency.
According to Muhammad, executive secretaries will have to “respect and report to their respective commissioners as the ultimate leaders of one single united health team at the state level,” the statement said.
But commissioners should also “appreciate the autonomy of state PHCDAs administratively and operationally for the overall benefits of the citizens,” said Muhammad.
Speaking on behalf of state governments, Borno health commissioner, Dr HarunaMsheila, pledged their readiness to work with the federal government in a planned revitalization of primary health care in the country.