The Society of Community Health Technologists and Scientists of Nigeria (SCHTSN), on Saturday in Kaduna, inaugurated its members and called for improved primary healthcare services in the country.
The inauguration featured a one-day national inaugural conference by members of the SCHTSN.
The theme of the conference was “Advanced Primary Health Care Services in Contemporary Nigerian Society’: The Roles of Community Health Technologists and Scientists of Nigeria.
Dr. Yusuf Arrigasiyyu, the Dean, Faculty of Public Health Care Education, Kaduna Polytechnic, said those inaugurated were community health practitioners with Higher National Diploma (HND), National Diploma (ND) Bachelor of Science, Master and doctorate in community health.
Arrigasiyyu noted that prior to the inauguration, there used to be community health practitioners who had only professional certificates and never upgraded to meet the current challenges of healthcare services in Nigeria.
“When schools of health technology and Scientists of Nigeria began to train students that will obtain diploma and national diploma, bachelor and master degrees and PhDs, who were primary healthcare inclined, there were clashes”.
“Some people don’t want to see us being trained as diploma holders, but in every society there are freedom fighters that will resist; and that is why some of us with ND, HND, BSc, MSc and PhDs in community health that are not registered or recognised by the other side came on board.
`We now have our own association, registered by the corporate affairs of Nigeria, and are now fighting to get our own board so that we can practice,” Arrigasiyyu said.
He thanked the Federal Government, saying “There is a circular stating clearly that henceforth the Federal Government of Nigeria will not employ anybody without an academic certificate.
“Ours is academic certificate while that of the other divide is professional. We thank the Federal Government for that and that is why we want to support them to produce people with academic certificates that will work for the development of primary healthcare in Nigeria,” he said.
Also speaking, the Deputy Director, Health Programmes of the National Board for Technic Education (NBTE), Yusuf Bello, said lack of data was one of the challenges hindering effective service delivery in the primary healthcare sector in Nigeria.
“Before any social service is provided, where the people live, their numbers and even the nature of their environment needed to be known and recorded.
“This is usually a problem because if one is constructing a hospital and does not know the number of the people it will serve, this is why we have overcrowded hospitals and end up not serving the purpose for which it was constructed.
“We at NBTE take part in the training of healthcare personnel and once they are trained, both federal, state and local governments are supposed to employ and post them to the healthcare facilities to improve the manpower to match the number of people patronising the facilities,” Bello said.
He restated the NBTE’s commitment to sanitising, approving and regulating ND and HND programmes in Nigerian polytechnics, colleges of agriculture and schools of nursing.
Earlier in his address, the National President of SCHTSN, Comrade Ephraim Anjatona, said the body came at a time where the services of PHC was critically needed in the wake of the emergence of different kinds of epidemics and pandemics.
He urged the members of the SCHTSN to contribute professionally in ameliorating the challenges faced in PHC for a healthier generation of people.
