The National Association of Community Health Practitioners of Nigeria, NACHPN, has called for the inclusion of telemedicine in the training curriculum of community health practitioners in the country.
This is contained in a communiqué at the end of the NACHPN National Workshop held in Kano with the theme, “Strengthening the Nigerian Health System: Roles of Community Health Practitioners.”
According to the Communique, a possible and sustainable telemedicine scheme needed to be developed by the Association as a unified window for improving the national primary health care system thereby improving healthcare service uptake and delivery in Nigeria.
“Inclusion of telemedicine into the training curriculum of community health practitioners in schools. The education of community members on the proposed scheme (telemedicine) should be effective and exhaustive, and the CHPRBN should be highly commended for the digitalisation transformation of the community health profession; however, the transformation should be logically supervised and decoded for sustenance and optimal security from cyber-looters and fraudsters,” It explains.
“The leadership of NACHPN should pragmatically engage with CHPRBN to sustain the tempo of digital transformation in the face of the possible resistance from any quarter of the profession, and accredited training institutions should be well educated and trained on the new form of digitalization, while continuous and effective education on ICT must be encouraged among practitioners and students for acquaintance l with the digitalisation” the communiqué stresses.
While commending the Kano State Chapter of NACHPN for hosting a successful national workshop that was well coordinated, the communiqué calls for appropriate and efficient implementation of the concept of primary health care under one roof (PHCUoR) be well adhered to by the CHPRBN through an improved interface with NPHCDA.
“Out-of-pocket expenditure in health care financing should be discouraged through an effective implementation of Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) program in all LGAs and adequate monitoring and coordination of the scheme being put in place. Identified bottlenecks and bureaucratic tendencies militating against BHCPF should be removed for the masses to enjoy basic healthcare service delivery and there should be creation of awareness amongst the public on BHCPF in order for the general population to be well informed of the provision and right they have to access quality health care service delivery. Enhanced Resource management should be encouraged among Community Health Practitioners (CHP) through their highest level of managerial coordination in their primary areas of assignment,” the Communique advises.
It points out that decorum and tranquility should be well enforced during national programmes and participants’ commitment, discipline, concentration, and attention should be harnessed in the future.
” The idea of participants engaging in personal discussions outside the workshop venues, group meetings and buying and selling during sessions should be discouraged and extension of invitation to NPHCDA (either at national or state levels) to undertake cardinal session at subsequent workshops should be encouraged. NPHCDA is one of the major agencies the profession operationally interfaces with. It is also important that invitation to national workshop be extended to other professionals in health industry, especially during the opening ceremony and this will facilitate comradeship and trust of competence in the professions. ” It emphasizes.
The Communique advises the Board to make a policy statement that will enforce that private colleges of health science include a photocopy of their accreditation approval before their students are allowed to do their clinical practice and health system strengthening should be built into the curriculum of CHEW and CHO.
“Policy on CHP establishing private PHC should be reviewed and regulated within the ambit of the Ministry of Health of each state to commensurate with the recognized quality and standard of training of the practitioners, and the Board and National Association should work in collaboration to ensure that the community health practitioners are recognized amongst other health care professionals instead of being referred to as “others.” the Communique adds.
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