By Fatima Mohammed-Lawal
The number of women accessing antenatal care in Kwara has increased exponentially, Kwara Commissioner of Health, Dr Raji Razaq, said in Ilorin on Thursday.
He made the declaration at the 35th Media Parliament of the Kwara Council of the NUJ.
Razaq said the number of women accessing antenatal care rose to 65,000 in 2020 and to 181,000 in 2021.
He added that this was after Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq improved on the indices of low attendance of pregnant women for antenatal care.
The commissioner told newsmen that in 2019 before the governor took office; Kwara was the poorest in terms of immunisation, ranking 36th among the 36 states of the federation.
Razaq added that a year after Gov. AbdulRazaq took office; a survey showed that the state had moved to the 18th position in national immunisation.
“The governor has surpassed his predecessors in healthcare delivery since coming into office in 2019,’’ he stressed.
The commissioner said healthcare delivery in Kwara was in a deplorable state before the current administration came into being, but that there had been a turnaround.
“There has been massive renovation and reconstruction of health facilities across the three senatorial districts of the state.
“About 500 medical personnel have been employed and modern equipment provided in health facilities, while retraining of staff has also increased,’’ he said.
Razaq blamed the collapse of the health sector in the state in the past on the inability of the previous administrations to pay various counterpart funds.
He stated that most of the counterpart funding had been released by the present administration to the tune of about N2 billion.
He explained that payment of the counterpart funds attracted foreign interests which had impacted positively on service delivery in the health sector in Kwara.
Earlier, Mr Ahmed Abdullateef, Kwara Council chairman of the NUJ, said the media parliament aimed at making public office holders accountable to the people. (NAN)
