Cross River State commissioner for health Dr. Egbe Ayuk has said only 196 of the 1,045 primary healthcare centres (PHCs) owned by the state are functional.
This leaves a total of 849 PHCs in a moribund state.
Ayuk revealed the statistics in Calabar yesterday at a media briefing as part of activities marking this year’s World Health Day which has the theme: “My Health, My Right”.
He stressed that the functional ones are the ones where patients can go to receive medical attention, promising to increase the number before the end of tap years.
“Yes, we are having challenges, today, we have 1,045 primary healthcare facilities but the ones that are functional are about 196 PHC centres.
“We expect that within the next two years, we will upgrade the number to 450 and bring the total number of functional facilities to 600,” Ayuk said.
The commissioner said the state government was aware of the National Basic Healthcare Provision Fund assisting states to develop what they have on ground, adding that it would leverage on this to access funds from the World Bank for its impact programme.
Ayuk said the sector was in dire need of personnel to keep it functional, stressing that the Otu’s administration did not meet up to eight pharmacists in its employ, adding that the number had been doubled.
He said only 30 doctors were fully employed in the state excluding contract staff and this number has increased by between 75 percent and 100 percent.
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