DEPUTY Controller of the National Pandemic Response Dr Daoni Esorom has urged the health authorities not to neglect the routine health programs over COVID-19.
Dr Daoni said, “My message is for the National Department of Health and the Provincial Health Authorities. We know there are surges in most provinces and the natural reaction is to redirect resources, including manpower to take care of the COVID-19 cases.
“My concern is that PHAs must ensure that priority is given also to priority programs like the malaria program, Maternal Child Health, Expanded Programme for Immunisation (EPI), Tuberculosis, HIV and Non-Communicable Diseases.
“We are seeing a trend that there is an increasing number of people dying from other diseases other than COVID-19. So the PHAs, hospitals and health facilities as well as the health workers must ensure that focus is also given to priority programs because if we don’t, we will have a lot of deaths not only from COVID-19 but other preventable diseases.’’
Dr Daoni said resources, including funding must also be shared equally between the COVID-19 program and the routine programs.
He said the pandemic presents to us the opportunity to strengthen the basics of a healthy system. Now that the focus is on the pandemic emergency, the National Department of Health and PHAs must focus on the basic blocks of a health system. These are:
• Governance, leadership and management;
• Service delivery;
• Health infrastructure;
• Health financing;
• Health information; and
• Health workforce.
“If we focus equally on building these basic blocks of our health system, we will emerge from the pandemic having a better health system,’’ said Dr Daoni.