Kwara govt awards N5bn contracts for 70 PHCs upgrade

The Kwara state government announced Thursday that it has awarded contracts worth N5 billion to upgrade 70 Primary Health Centres (PHC) in the state’s three senatorial districts.

The Executive Secretary, Kwara State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Nusirat Elelu, made this known in Ilorin at the contract-signing event.

Ms Elelu stated that the intervention would include infrastructural upgrade, solarisation, provision of staff quarters, potable water supply and supply of ultra-modern hospital equipment across all benefitting PHC facilities.

She said the intervention is being supported by the World Bank-supported Immunisation Plus and Malaria Progress by Accelerating Progress and Transforming Services (IMPACT) project.

“It will make PHC facilities better positioned to provide quality and improved services across the state. The overall objective is to make all the PHC facilities ‘fit for purpose’ since the system is the first contact with the national health system,” she said.

She implored the successful bidders to ensure they deliver high-quality standards to justify the trust reposed in them.

Ms Elelu warned that any contractor found wanting would have his contract terminated immediately.
The executive secretary also said that the contracts would be supervised closely to ensure judicious use of the investment made in the project.

“This is part of the efforts of the state government to revitalise the PHC system in the state. 53 PHCs had earlier been renovated, while nine PHCs are presently under renovation. More facilities will still be renovated by the government in the near future,” she said.

“Similarly, some 1,005 PHC workers, including doctors, were recently recruited into the system to ensure availability of adequate human resources to man these facilities.”

Also, the IMPACT Programme Manager, Michael Oguntoye, said the contract is to be delivered within three months, while undue delay in the implementation of the project would not be tolerated.

Mr Oguntoye noted that the PHC upgrade is one of several interventions the state is benefitting from the IMPACT project, which aims to reduce maternal and child morbidity and mortality.

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He added that the primary beneficiaries of the IMPACT project are under-five children and women, and the project’s interventions would also improve access to health services for all state residents.

The manager said IMPACT would also strengthen national monitoring and evaluation systems, as well as contribute to demand generation and service quality improvement nationally.
(NAN)