By Lateef Ibrahim with agency report
The Ogun State House of Assembly has urged the State Ministry of Health and Hospitals Management Board to work harder to provide healthcare that is effective, accessible and of high quality.
They also called for the strengthening of internal systems in order to improve financial performance and service impact throughout the state.
Chairman of the House Committee on Health, Wahab Haruna, gave the charge during the commencement of the 2025 mid-year budget performance appraisal at the Assembly Complex, Oke Mosan, Abeokuta.
Haruna praised the Ministry’s efforts to provide the public with high-quality healthcare and urged its leadership to strengthen performance efforts by emphasising service excellence and prudent use of public funds in accordance with the state’s developmental goals.
Also speaking, the Minority Leader, Lukman Adeleye, commended the ministry for taking advantage of the projects under ‘Impact Office’ to boost healthcare infrastructure in the state, soliciting more funding for the ministry to do more in rendering quality healthcare delivery to the people.
Earlier, while reeling out the ministry’s mid-year financial performance report, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr Tomi Coker, stated that the state government, in partnership with the World Bank, had upgraded 75 primary healthcare centres across the state to improve primary care service delivery.
She added that government had also strengthened human capital in the health sector through the recent employment of 472 community health extension workers for the primary health centres in the state, while an additional 415 personnel were employed into the State Hospitals Management Board to boost service delivery.
The commissioner noted that the ministry generated a total of N99 million, representing 43.64 per cent of the ninistry’s annual revenue target, which was generated from tuition and hostel fees at the School of Nursing, as well as hospital and laboratory renewal fees.
Coker stated that the ministry recorded a recurrent expenditure performance of 32.43 per cent within the first six months and requested more funding of capital projects for the ministry.
She further highlighted other achievements within the period under review, including the regular supply of essential drugs, maintenance of state ambulances for emergency response, commemoration of key global health observance days, and facilitation of ICT training to enhance staff capacity and operational efficiency.
On her part, the Permanent Secretary, State Hospitals Management Board, Dr Yinka Elemide, noted that the Board returned 41.83 per cent recurrent achievement, while its revenue for the period under review stood at 54.9 per cent.
Other agencies that had their budget performances appraised by the state lawmakers included the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, State Agency for the Control of AIDS, as well as the state and general hospitals under the State Hospitals Management Board.
Never miss a moment! Get the stories shaping Nigeria, delivered straight to your phone. Follow Peoplesdaily Newspaper on WhatsApp for breaking news, exclusive reports, and the headlines everyone will be talking about, before anyone else.
