Chinedum Treasure
Director, Community Health Services, Anambra State Primary Health Care Development Agency Dr Ngozi Okeke, has appealed to the SPARK 2 Implementing partners to lend their assistance towards success of the newly introduced telemedicine in the state.
Okeke, made the appeal during a visit by the SPARK 2 team to brief her about the multi-stakeholders’ dialogue session scheduled to take place later in the week.
Okeke, who doubles as Director, PHC Awka South Local Government Health Authority, appreciated the contribution of the team towards improved health care delivery system in the state, especially in the area of community level support.
“Talk about the proper supervision and engagement of the Ward Development Committees, you have been there for us. You have been trying to monitor their activities and those of the officers in charge. And you have been giving us feedback, which we’ve always relied on to move ahead in our various activities.
“However, we just introduced telemedicine to all the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund facilities. We’ve trained the OICs and the 42 doctors involved in the programme. But during the training of frontline health workers, we observed that most of the OICs didn’t know how to use the gadgets.
“So, we had to bring out some hours during the training for all the local governments. But even after that, I noticed that some of them can still not use the gadgets. I had to call my doctors. I told them to now go to the facilities and do one-on-one mentoring to make sure that everybody can use the gadgets.
“Government is really interested in that telemedicine. So I believe if you can key into it and see in which aspects you can support the government to make sure that everybody who needs access to a doctor gets such access in Anambra State”.
Earlier, the SPARK II COMEN Consultant, Ugochi Ehiahuruike, had appreciated Dr Okeke for her contribution in the implementation of the project, designed to complement government’s efforts in advancing health care delivery system in the area.
“We are still thanking you for the support you have been giving us. And for us, the training that we had with the OICs and the WDCs was technically the highest, the hallmark of it. But it gave rise to other kinds of engagement, and that is part of why we have come here to share a technical report of our activities and findings aimed at making things better.
“Our conversations going forward will always come from the report especially from the citizens’ angle. Our observations are reflected here and we present them to you the state actors so that you can peruse and make corrections where necessary. Our goal is better service delivery in the health sector,” she concluded.
Also speaking, Justice Development and Peace Caritas, JDPC Nnewi SPARK Programmes Officer, Onyekachi Ololo, remarked, “We thank God for 2025, that has given us another opportunity to continue to consolidate on what we have done. When we met the Commissioner, he was asking us – what are the impacts? What are the learnings? We have resolved to follow up on commitments made by stakeholders like OICs, WDCs and others to see that they make good of them.
Ololo shed further light on the essence of the forthcoming dialogue sessions holding later in the week. “The dialogue section is to strengthen already existing relationship to enhance system change because we are looking at systemic improvement.
“So, we want to look at those systemic issues at the primary health care centers. We know about your big catch up. We know about the frontline health workers that have been trained. How do we, at community level, monitor the implementation and give feedback bearing in mind our entry point, which is maternal and child health care service delivery?
The Strengthening Public Accountability for Results and Knowledge (SPARK II) project, which is supported by the International Budget Partnership (IBP), is implemented in Anambra State by JDPC Nnewi, in collaboration with the Community Empowerment Network (COMEN), and the Civil Rights Concern (CRC).
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