Pry Health Care: Cross River Donates 17 Vehicles To Councils

The Cross River Government has donated 17 new vehicles to eight local government councils in the state to boost primary health care services in the rural areas.

Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River who inaugurated the vehicles in Calabar on Thursday reiterated the state government’s determination to provide health services to the people at affordable cost.

The beneficiaries of the gesture include Abi, Akpabuyo, Bekwarra, Biase, Obubra, Obudu, Odukpani and Ikom Local Government Areas.

The vehicles are eight Toyota Hiace ambulances and nine Hilux pick-up vans.

Imoke said Cross River was one of the states in the South South region with high infant and maternal mortality rates.

He said that with the intervention of the Tulsi Chanrai Foundation, an NGO that specialises on primary health care, the challenges of the health sector would be reduced considerably.

Imoke emphasised government’s commitment to personnel and institutional capacity building to effectively face the challenges.

He said the vehicles would help the NGO and its health operators to access difficult terrains and ensure that services were taken to those who needed them most.

The governor urged the benefiting councils to make proper use of the vehicles in order to achieve the MDGs.

Imoke commended the NGO for its strong partnership with the government, which he said demonstrated that both the private sector and government could work together positively.

Dr Paul Kandasamy, the Project Consultant and Coordinating Partner of the programme, said that Tulsi Chanrai Foundation had been partnering with the government in the past three years.

He said that the programme had strengthened the primary health care system in the eight local government areas by training health personnel.

Kandasamy said the programme had also provided equipment and established more health facilities across the areas at the ratio of 300 families to one health facility.

He said the vehicles would help doctors to access the grassroots, provide quality medicare and supervise the programme in the rural areas.

The Special Adviser to the governor on Community Health, Dr Iyam Ugot, had earlier said that government had been partnering with the NGO for the implementation of a re-invented primary health care delivery system.

He said the health care delivery system involved the provision of facilities for 300 families in each local government areas.