By Ngozi Onyeakusi—Anambra State Commissioner for Health, Dr Afam Obidike, has called for attitudinal change of healthcare workers to improve patient care and service delivery in the state’s health institutions.

Obidike made the call on Monday in Awka, at a training session for Heads of state health facilities.

The training had the theme – ‘Achieving Universal Health Coverage Through the Health Worker Attitudinal Change’.

He said that poor attitudinal problem among health workers, particularly in the public sector could further endanger lives of patients, saying that the patient is central to any health policy.

“There is need to attitudinal change at every level of care.

“Health workers are in business only because of the patient – to care for patients, to ensure that the human person is maintained in the best possible state of good health in terms of their mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing.

“The Gov. Charles Soludo led-adminidtration wants to reform the healthcare sector through training and retraining. And this training is to change the negligent attitude of health workers at the health institutions.

“Such attitudinal change is vital in achieving universal health coverage, improving patient care and healthcare service delivery in the state, ” he said.

The Commissioner said that more healthcare professionals had been recruited to drive a functional and effective performance at primary healthcare centres and general hospitals in the state.

He said that a taskforce team had also been established to check indiscipline, truancy and corruption in the health system.

In his lecture, Dr Okechukwu Ugwu of the Department of Surgery, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital Nnewi, said regular trainings would help health workers conform with the ethics of the profession and international best practices.

In his remarks, Dr Abdulnasir Adamu, State Coordinator, World Health Organisation, commended the state government for organising the training and urged participants to be committed in discharging their duties.