By Isaac Olufemi Ojo
The Family Counselling Centre (FCC) and the Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN) have charged the Ologuneru traditional council and residents to wake up to their responsibility by taking ownership of the Ologuneru PHC to scale up healthcare service delivery.
The appeal was made during a high-level community engagement held at the palace of the Baale of Ologuneru, under the auspices of the ongoing Community-Led Monitoring Project designed to track and resolve service delivery gaps in grassroots healthcare facilities.
Setting the tone for the parley, the NEPWHAN Chairman, Mr. Olawale Faith Abiola, briefed the traditional ruler and community leaders on the network’s core mandate and the objective of the monitoring initiative.
Corroborating his stance, the Director of the Family Counselling Centre, Mrs. Titilade Ogunkunle, reeled out the catalogue of woes plaguing the facility, which include a leaking roof, deplorable toilet structures, the absence of a perimeter fence, an acute shortage of seating space, and an urgent need for physical expansion to accommodate the growing population of patients.
She likewise charged the community leaders to use their position to influence residents in Ologuneru toward revamping the facility, while helping to escalate the situation to the state primary health board.
Responding to the stakeholders’ findings, the Baale, Sulaimon Ajala, disclosed that machinery was already in motion to tackle some of the challenges, laying particular emphasis on the fencing of the health facility as a top security and operational priority.
However, he lamented that a paucity of funds and poor donor response had stalled the execution of the remedial works.
Corroborating the monarch’s position, the community youth leader, Chief Abdulai Oladepo, added that bureaucratic bottlenecks stalled the move, which pushed the burden of maintenance back onto residents.
Meanwhile, the Baale announced plans to summon an emergency consultative meeting with traditional rulers of neighbouring settlements that utilize the Ologuneru health facility, pointing out that the burden of healthcare delivery is shared among the contiguous communities.
In her closing remarks, Mrs. Ogunkunle urged the residents to take ownership of developmental strides in their domain, stressing the need for communal self-reliance.
The meeting drew critical stakeholders, including the Baale of Ologuneru, the community youth leader, the NEPWHAN Chairman, Mr. Abiola, the FCC Director, Mrs. Ogunkunle, and other prominent community members, ending with a renewed joint call for robust grassroots participation to salvage the healthcare centre.
