Availability of Equipment in Primary Health Care Facilities in Abia South Senatorial District.

Abstract:

A responsive health system ensures that communities have fair access to necessary medical equipment that is guaranteed to be safe, effective, and of high quality. Medical equipment is a crucial instrument for health interventions and is utilized in illness prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and patient rehabilitation. This study seeks to evaluate the availability of equipment in the primary health care in Abia South Senatorial District. The study was conducted in Abia South Senatorial Zone, which comprises of six Local Government Areas: Aba North, Aba South, Obingwa, Ugwunagbo, Ukwa East, and Ukwa West. There are 81 government-owned Primary Healthcare Centres distributed across various wards in these areas. A total of 26 Primary Healthcare Centers and 52 midwives were selected for this study. An observation checklist, adapted from the National Primary Health Care Development Agency Minimum Standard Checklist, was used to assess the equipment in each of the 26 PHCs. The analysis shows that the six Primary Healthcare Centers in Obingwa, Ugwunagbo, Aba North, Aba South, Ukwa East and Ukwa West Local Government Areas, are critically under-equipped with only 14.55%, 21.91%, 4.56%, 13.50%, 17.49% and 16.49% respectively. In conclusion, our findings revealed the overall state of equipment in Primary Healthcare Centers across Abia South senatorial district in Abia State falls below National Primary Health Care Development Agency minimum standards. The availability of essential medical equipment across Primary Healthcare Centers in Abia South was generally low, with most facilities possessing only basic items such as gloves, artery forceps, and dressing.