MANPOWER, EQUIPMENT AND MATERIAL RESOURCES ADEQUACY FOR PROVIDING PRIMARY EYE CARE (PEC) SERVICES, IN PRIMARY HEALTHCARE FACILITIES IN RIVERS STATE

Background: The provision of primary eye care services is essential for the prevention and control of ocular morbidities as well as contribute in producing a healthy workforce. This study was thus aimed at assessing the manpower, equipment and material resources adequacy for providing Primary Eye Care (PEC) services, in primary healthcare (PHC) facilities in Rivers State, Nigeria. methods: This study utilized the descriptive, cross-sectional design and was conducted in 83 PHC facilities in Rivers State, Nigeria. Data was collected using adapted manpower, equipment and materials checklists. Evaluation was done using PHC standards to identify the adequacy of the assessed resources. Data analysis was done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23 Results: The largest proportion of the PHC facilities were found to have one doctor 40 (48.2%), no optometrist 75 (90.4%), one nurse 22 (26.5%), one community health officer (CHO) 28 (33.7%), three community health extension workers (CHEW) 21 (25.3%), and one records officer 36 (43.4%) working in them. Also, only 8 optometrists were found to be providing PEC services in the PHC facilities. Assessing the adequacy of the various cadres of workers, revealed inadequacies affecting all cadres, with nurses (80%) and doctors (40%) having the highest proportion of inadequacies. An assessment of the adequacy of the equipment and materials using a 50% cut-off for categorization of availability into “adequate” and “inadequate” showed that most facilities 67 (81.0%) experienced inadequacies as they did not have a number of these equipment and materials. Conclusion: The manpower, equipment and material resources were found to be inadequate. Task shifting, where primary healthcare workers are trained in the management of simple ocular diseases while the specialists attend to more serious ocular conditions, and the even distribution of equipment and materials needed to provide PEC services are recommended.