The Federal Government is working towards integrating medical rehabilitation services into Primary Healthcare Centres across Nigeria. This is part of efforts to expand access to essential healthcare for persons with disabilities and patients recovering from illnesses and injuries.

The initiative is expected to move rehabilitation beyond specialist and tertiary hospitals, where such services have traditionally been concentrated, and make them more accessible to Nigerians at the community level. Director and Head of the Department of Health Planning, Research and Statistics at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Dr John Ovouraye, disclosed the plan during a discussion on medical rehabilitation and assistive technology on NTA’s Good Morning Nigeria.

Ovouraye, who is also Secretary of the Ministerial Steering Committee on Disability Inclusiveness, said the government wants rehabilitation incorporated into more than 10,000 functional Primary Healthcare Centres targeted across the country.

He said achieving this would require sections of the facilities to be refurbished and provided with a minimum package of rehabilitation equipment and appropriately trained personnel. The policy direction is part of a broader attempt to make rehabilitation an integral component of Nigeria’s pursuit of Universal Health Coverage rather than a service available predominantly to people who can reach specialist hospitals.

Expert Say: Rehabilitation 2030 Initiative

Primary healthcare could close the accessibility gap and the Federal Government’s proposed solution is decentralisation. It is targeting more than 10,000 functional PHCs.

Dr John Ovouraye, Director and Head of the Department of Health Planning, Research and Statistics at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, said the government wants rehabilitation incorporated into Primary Healthcare Centres rather than remaining predominantly at the tertiary level.

Ovouraye also said implementing the rehabilitation component would require refurbishing sections of facilities, providing a minimum package of equipment and deploying appropriately skilled personnel.

From an accessibility perspective, experts believe this approach could bring services considerably closer to patients. But decentralisation also creates another challenge. Nigeria needs enough rehabilitation professionals to staff an expanded system and it doesn’t have that.

The workforce figures presented by Ahmad highlight the scale of that problem. Nigeria has fewer than 10,000 registered physiotherapists for a population exceeding 200 million. In several other rehabilitation professions, the shortages are considerably greater.

According to Ahmad, there are fewer than 500 professionals in each of areas including speech therapy, audiology and prosthetics. This means expanding rehabilitation infrastructure without simultaneously expanding the workforce could leave PHCs with facilities but insufficient specialists to deliver the intended services.

The long-term solution will therefore have to include education and workforce development. About 15 universities have already introduced programmes in areas including occupational and speech therapy. Ahmad said there is also a proposal that institutions which have graduated at least one cohort of rehabilitation professionals should establish master’s and doctoral programmes.

The objective is not merely to produce practitioners but also to develop enough qualified academics to train future professionals.