PRIMARY HEALTHCARE POST-COVID PANDEMIC

The fears and distress that followed the contagious pandemic – Coronavirus which practically crumbled the world economy cannot be forgotten in a hurry. The pandemic led to shutdown of businesses, schools, worship centres and leisure spots except essential services. An unimaginable, unprecedented global lockdown that apart from members of nuclear families, everyone isolated, restricted closeness with other persons for fear of infection. Sneezing became like a taboo let alone coughing. Wearing of face masks, compulsory hand-washing and use of hand-sanitizers suddenly became a norm. Governments DQG ÀQDQFLDO LQVWLWXWLRQV DFURVV WKH JOREH operated skeletally with only management VWDͿ DQG PRVWO\ IURP KRPH GLJLWDOO\ 7KH masses living on daily incomes without huge deposits in the banks were worse hit. These incidents cannot be forgotten in a hurry.

To confront the quandary squarely, nations across the globe synergized with sturdy policies, imposed travel bans on international tours, shut down airspaces, and set up jab centres for COVID vaccines. Although the concerted energies confronted severe conspiracy theories from some TXDUWHUV WKH ÀJKW DJDLQVW WKH SDQGHPLF ZDV sustained. However, amid the dilemma, many people lost their lives even in the developed nations with functional primary healthcare systems including USA, Europe, among others.

Strangely, these developed nations recorded the highest casualties in the COVID deaths despite their huge commitments to the primary healthcare (PHC) compared to Africa, particularly Nigeria with meagre attention to the health sector. In fact, some estimates at the WHO believe that COVID-19 deaths have been undercounted across the globe and that the worldwide tally of nearly 6.3million deaths may actually be two times higher. Last month, May 2022, in the United States alone, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reported that America has aggregately surpassed one million deaths attributed to the disease.

One could only but imagine what would have happened if the epidemic had its way at the same rate in the developing countries LQ GHÀFLW YLV j YLV SULPDU\ KHDOWKFDUH )RU H[DPSOH DOO SXEOLF R΀FHKROGHUV DQG WKH D΁XHQW FODVV LQ 1LJHULD GHSHQG RQ WKH western world for their healthcare and nuclear families. The healthcare in Nigeria is literally left in miserable conditions for the helpless masses except private hospitals, KHQFH WKH WUDGLWLRQ IRU JRYHUQPHQW R΀FLDOV to always queue for foreign medical trips, VDGO\ IURP WD[ SD\HUV· FRͿHUV 1RQHWKHOHVV the pandemic created some emergency interventions to primary healthcare in Nigeria including setting up COVID vaccination centres by governments.

Now, in this post-COVID pandemic, revitalizing the primary healthcare (PHC) in the country should be given a priority by the authorities as what happened during the pandemic should be an eye-opener. PHC, an ‘essential health care’ that is EDVHG RQ VFLHQWLÀFDOO\ VRXQG DQG VRFLDOO\ acceptable methods and technology is the ÀUVW OHYHO RI FRQWDFW IRU LQGLYLGXDOV IDPLO\ and the community with the national health system, and addresses the main health problems in the community, providing health promotion, preventive, curative and rehabilitative services accordingly. Amongst its scope are routine medical checkups, screening for common health issues, prescribing necessary medications, treatment of minor illnesses and injuries, managing chronic conditions, and management of acute health conditions. Health, it is held, is wealth. Thus, revitalizing primary healthcare will impel economic recovery in post-Covid pandemic.

The second reason is the alarming WHO records which reveals that about 3,000 children die each day of preventable diseases resulting from lack of primary healthcare. Bringing it home, Nigeria from the said data represents one in seven of the global maternal deaths, expressed in 119 preventable maternal deaths daily, and the impact this has on family health and child survival in general cannot be underrated. )XUWKHUPRUH 1LJHULD LV WKH WRS FRXQWU\ LQ the world in terms of number of zero dose children (children who never received any single dose of vaccine since they were born). This is precarious. Necessarily, it is incumbent on the authorities to give the ‘one PHC centre per ward policy’ utmost commitment, alongside sensitization on child immunization.

In Lagos State recently, Mrs. Muyiwa Idowu-Olaleye, a resident in a ward in Ifelodun LCDA narrated how an emergency call to a health worker in a PHC centre saved the life of her six-year- old kid, Sidikat from Cholera infection which began at midnight and almost dried up the child by strained vomiting and stooling in the middle of the night. She wondered what could have happened if she didn’t get anticipated attention from the health worker. The above story suggests that revitalizing Primary Healthcare in every ZDUG ZLWK H΀FLHQW VHUYLFHV LV HVVHQWLDO

Arguably, the ‘one PHC centre per ward policy’ in Lagos is rapidly gathering PRPHQWXP )RU LQVWDQFH /DJRV SUHVHQWO\ has no fewer than 392 PHC centres spread across its 377 wards – (245 wards created by federal government and 132 wards created by the state from its 37 LCDAs) and strategic places, and progressively being boosted with needed workforce.