By Raphael Ede
The Enugu State Government, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, has onboarded the second cohort of the National Health Fellows Programme while graduating the pioneer set.
It, however, charged the new inductees to act as undercover monitors to sanitize primary healthcare delivery across the state.
The ceremony, which celebrated the completion of the inaugural one-year fellowship and welcomed Cohort 2.0, was held at the Enugu International Conference Centre on Wednesday to bolster health governance, data accountability, and service monitoring at the local government level.
Speaking, the state Governor, Peter Mbah, disclosed that the fellows have been authorized by the state and federal authorities to monitor healthcare facilities, expose absenteeism, and hold local government health administrators accountable.
Represented by the Commissioner for Labour and Productivity, Dr. Felix Nnamani, Mbah emphasised that the fellowship aligns with the Renewed Hope Agenda’s focus on disruptive innovation to fix systemic gaps in primary healthcare centers across Enugu’s 260 electoral wards.
The governor said, “The government has been able to put primary healthcare centers scattered across 260 electoral wards and more.
“But if you take, for instance, what was there on the ground, you see there are no health workers there. And these ones are collecting salaries from our local government, and nobody is checking them. So now, you are the police.”
He added, “The government has identified this gap, so that’s why they recruited you now at the federal level. You are now authorized to disguise, go there, identify the gaps, and report to the appropriate quarters… so that it will be addressed, and we’ll have a healthy society.”
Also speaking at the event, the Enugu State Commissioner for Health, Prof. George Ugwu, revealed that the new fellows will be integrated directly into the state’s healthcare expansion plans, including tracking the performance of newly approved staff.
“Recently, His Excellency approved for us to recruit over 2,000 primary healthcare workers.
“We don’t want a situation where somebody will be living in Lagos and claim that he is working in our primary healthcare centers. We are going to use them to be our eyes and ears in these various health facilities,” he said.
Ugwu added that the fellows will monitor the operational status, drug supply, and personnel presence at the newly constructed Type 2 Special Primary Healthcare Centers in every ward.
Highlighting health indicators in the state, the commissioner revealed that Enugu’s malaria prevalence rate dropped significantly from an inherited 24.9 per cent down to 9.9 per cent, with a strategic target to push it below 5 per cent through state-wide free testing and treatment programs.
He further confirmed that President Bola Tinubu graciously accepted the plea of the Minister of Health to absorb the graduating pioneer cohort of the National Health Fellows into the National Civil Service.
Ugwu commended the transparent recruitment process of the fellows, emphasizing that selection was handled strictly without political interference.
He said, “The engagement process of these Fellows is something we are proud of. They apply online, and they are interviewed rigorously by our traditional fathers, our royal fathers, and our international partners, supported by academia. You are selected purely on merit. You did not have to have any phone calls or anything to get it.”
In a goodwill message delivered by the Director of Medical Services, Dr. Nnamchi Vincent, on behalf of the Chief Executive Officer of the Enugu State Hospital Management Board, the board reaffirmed its commitment to collaborating with the fellows to strengthen secondary healthcare delivery and uphold professional ethics across the state’s health sector.
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