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Nasarawa State Governor, Engineer Abdullahi Sule, has approved the recruitment of 37 medical doctors meant to boost healthcare delivery across the state.
Engineer Sule disclosed this while flagging off a free medical outreach in Nasarawa Local Government Area, on at the weekend.
According to the Governor, the gesture has become necessary in order to meet the demands of doctors who will work in various health facilities across the state, including newly completed clinics built by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) office.
He said his administration is committed to providing quality healthcare services to the people, which is in line with his conviction that health is wealth.
Engineer Sule said that informed the decision by his administration to scale down the medical outreach to reach every part of the state.
He disclosed that, since the commencement of the exercise, nine local government areas have so far been covered under the free medical outreach, with 819 surgeries carried out, while 18000 patients have been treated for different ailments.
These treatments, he added, include eye surgeries, ultrasonic scanning and laboratory investigations.
The Governor pointed out with the outreach in Nasarawa Local Government Area, more medically challenged people will be covered by the exercise.
He reiterated that the medical outreach was intended to facilitate the medication and treatment to the vulnerable and of course, the less privileged in the society.
He took the opportunity to commend frontline health workers in the state, for their resilience and support to government, which has made the exercise worthwhile and beneficial to the people of the state.
Engineer Sule also commended the state ministry of health and other sister agencies in the health sector, as well as the Nasarawa State Saving One Million Lives Programme for Results, for sustaining the collaborative effort towards enhancing the health conditions of the people.
He equally used the opportunity to highlight some key interventions within the health sector under his administration to include, procurement of functional mobile clinics, aimed at facilitating medication and treatment to the vulnerable and less privileged in the society.
He said the government also established the infectious diseases diagnosis and research center to serve as a research hub, a centre for innovation and operational research, that will promote policy initiation.
He added that, his administration facilitated the establishment of the state health insurance agency, in order to provide accessible and affordable healthcare services, with the agency so far, enrolling 86, 682 beneficiaries from both the formal and informal sectors.
“I assure you that this administration will continue to accord premium to the provisions of the healthcare at primary, secondary and tertiary health institutions, with a view to ensure a healthy society,” he stated.
He specifically commended development partners, particularly the Doctors on the Move Africa, for their efforts at sustaining such worthy collaboration, calling in other NGOs to emulate the gesture which is beneficial to the people of the state.
He also appreciated the Emir of Nasarawa, HRH Alhaji Ibrahim Usman Jibrin, for the role he played in attracting the construction of two new SDG clinics, located in Nasarawa town and Gudi Station.
The Governor used the opportunity of the event, to announced that the design for your a new market in Nasarawa has been completed and that the contracts will be awarded starting from next week, for the construction of modern markets in Nasarawa, Toto, Wamba and Awe towns.
He then called on those with medical challenges to avail themselves of the opportunity to access free medical healthcare, while employing all and sundry to cooperate with frontline health workers and Doctors on the Move, towards a hitch free medical exercise.
Earlier, State Commissioner for Health, Pharmacist Ahmed Baba Yahaya, said the exercise is expected to cover not less than 2000 people in Nasarawa Local Government Area.
The health commissioner added that like previous exercises recently held in Awe and Kokona local government areas, the outreach in Nasarawa will also include flagging off enrollment of people into the state’s health insurance scheme.
He disclosed that, over 60 surgeries have been covered from the beginning of the exercise in Nasarawa.
Pharmacist Yahaya, while thanking the Governor for the initiative, promised that his ministry will sustain the medical outreach in order to cover the entire state.
Also speaking, Nasarawa Local Government Chairman, Hon Mohammed Sani Ottoz, announced that, so far, 234 persons have been enrolled into the state health insurance scheme, following which he identified three persons to be symbolically presented with their registration cards.
On his part, the Emir of Nasarawa, HRH Alhaji Ibrahim Usman Jibrin, thanked Engineer Sule for attending the event, in spite of the clement weather.
The royal father recounted that, since the commissioning of the Nasarawa general hospital in May, 2019, he has witnessed three free medical outreaches at the facility.
“This is indeed a show of care and concern from the Governor and government to our people who are in dire need,” he stated.
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