The Ogun State Government says effort will be intensified to improve on the implementation status of the Health Sector's Annual Operational Plan (AOP) for 2022 from 50.2 percent to 80 percent, to further help deliver on the agenda of the present administration.

 Commissioner for Health, Dr. Tomi Coker, disclosed this at the Dissemination Meeting on the 2022 Annual Operation Plan, noting that there should be a connection between policy-making, planning, and budgeting allocation, to facilitate better implementation of health projects.

Coker, represented by the Director of Public Health, Ministry of Health, Dr. Festus Soyinka, said the implementation of AOP is an important vehicle towards actualising the present administration's vision for the health sector.

"The AOP was developed through a rigorous exercise that engaged key stakeholders in the state health sector at a 5-day workshop in the fourth quarter of the year 2021.

"It is a roadmap that contains objectives and activities aligned with State Strategic Health Development Plan 2018 - 2022 and Mid Term Sector Strategy document of the State that captures the vision of the Prince Dapo Abiodun led government, to provide the residents with quality, affordable and accessible health care", she said.

The Commissioner called on all the heads of agencies, directors, unit heads, and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Officers to work hard and ensure successful implementation of the carefully developed plan, saying the citizens of the State would be the better for it.

In his remark, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Health, Dr. Tayo Lawal charged the M&E Officers to keep policymakers in the sector abreast of the progress being made with the AOP and called on Ministries, Departments and Agencies to always refer to the plan for strategic decisions.

Earlier in his address, the Director, Planning, Research and Statistics, Ministry of Health, Dr. Kayode Kushimo, said the AOP was the last plan to be developed from the Ogun State Strategic Health Development Plan II, 2018-2022, appreciating the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for its support towards achieving the objectives of the plan.