TASK SHIFTING, TASK SHARING POLICY WILL IMPROVE HEALTH SERVICE DELIVERY – LASG
The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris has said that the implementation of the State’s Task Shifting, Task Sharing (TSTS) policy would improve the quality of essential health service provision and bring the health sector closer to achieving effective health service delivery.
Idris stated this recently at a presentation meeting on the developed standard operating procedures for TSTS policy implementation in Lagos, noting that the State’s desire to improve its health indicators and meet its yearnings for a sustained quality healthcare service delivery generated the keen interest to develop the TSTS policy in the face of personnel shortage and inadequate skill distribution.
The Commissioner explained that the increasing population of Lagos State has reduced the health worker to patient ratio resulting in the staff shortage across all cadres.
He said “The TSTS of essential services as a temporary strategy to close the human resource for health gaps in the State involves the rational reallocation of tasks among health workers in order to make more efficient use of the available human resources for health care services”.
Idris added that the reorganisation and decentralisation of health services according to the task shifting approach will help address the current shortage of health workers across the State.
“In line with the provisions in the relevant section of TSTS policy and to provide a practice that will make the implementation process seamless in the State, the development of standard operating procedures becomes imperative and essential to the realisation of the policy at all levels of care”, Idris said.
He stated that the TSTS policy has been developed for adaptation and implementation of essential health services including emergency care, gender-based violence care, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and leprosy, maternal, newborn and child health as well as non-communicable diseases.
“It is my keen expectation that this document will provide the basis for practically addressing the issues of human resource shortage through TSTS especially as it concerns essential health services for the benefit of residents”, the Commissioner said.
The production of TSTS document was done through the dedicated technical support and funding from partner organisations including Save the Children International (SCI) and Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative 2 (NURHI2).