THE Oyo State government says its newly validated web-based mapping of health facilities will ensure that individuals irrespective of where they may reside can access health data on the state to guide them on where to seek medical treatment as well as informed interventions international partners could fund.
The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Bashir Bello flagging off the validated web-based map of health facilities developed with support from Sustaining Programme and Partnership on Reproductive Health Transformation (SuPPoRT), said this would help to improve healthcare delivery services.
Dr Bello, who was represented by the ministry’s permanent secretary, Dr Muftau Ayoola said the web-based map of health facilities would continually be updated to ensure it is current and it can support planning in the health sector.
According to him, “if you click on Oyo State website, you can easily see the number of facilities that are providing family planning services and how these facilities are being utilised. At the same time, people can make use of the facilities in these hospitals for so many programmes, be it tuberculosis, malaria and HIV.”
SUPPORT’s technical assistant consultant, Mrs. Adesola Fanimoku said the web-based map would afford individuals even in the comfort of their home access to data on any health facility of their interest, the partners who are working in that facility, family planning methods offered its technical officers and staff strength.
According to her, rather than donors, partners and international organisations coming to Ibadan or staying within one centre, the state would be able to present this map to them, showing them the concentration of partners and they will be able to identify the LGAs that do not have partners’ support.
Fanimoku added, “All the data put together on this map already exist as individual data. But now, they are joined together. So, it helps the state to know the situation of its health institutions. From that map, you can tell what the present administration is doing in the area of health, which facility needs more attention or equipment and staffing.”
She stated that the web-based map has been configured in such a way that it can be expanded beyond the family planning programme, saying “we know the government needed it and we supported the government to do it.”
In his remarks, Director, Planning, Research and Statistics, Dr Abass Gbolahan said the validated web-based map of health facilities has made the health ministry now digital by harnessing the data already available in the ministry.
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