Niger State government will soon construct 70 new and upgrade primary healthcare centres in all its 25 local government councils via Primary Healthcare Under one Roof (PHCUOR) programme.
Governor Sani Bello disclosed this while commissioning one of the four MTN Foundation’s Maternal Ward Support Projects in the state at Lapai General Hospital, headquarters of Lapai Local Government Area of the state.
The 70 PHCs, Bello said was part of the first phase of the 274 of such centres expected to offer 24 hours comprehensive medical service for each of the wards across the three senatorial districts in the state.
Bello promised: “In the next one year at least 70 PHCOUR service facilities would be rolled out across Niger State through massive renovation, equipping and manpower improvements to meet the present day health challenges”.
Bello further pointed out that the total neglect of the PHCs over the years informed his administration’s resolve to give priority attention to the healthcare system as the closest to the rural populace with a view to significantly reduce maternal and childhood mortality.
Bello disclosed that his administration recently carried out free eye tests and general surgeries that benefited about 3, 000 people from across all the 25 local government areas.
His words: “The All Progressive Congress (APC) administration is committed towards providing qualitative, comprehensive and affordable healthcare service and that is why much attention is accorded to healthcare facilities, manpower development and as well, the welfare needs of the sector as well as the massive infrastructural improvement of various hospitals in the state.
“State government’s efforts at transforming the healthcare sector would require private sector and public spirited individual’s partnership.”
He assured of his administration’s preparedness to continue to explore partnership with local and foreign medical service providers and other stakeholders for the delivery of qualitative healthcare services for the entire citizenry.
Contributing, the
state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Mustapha Jibril, who commended MTN Foundation for the support, said his ministry and the telecommunication services provider have been engaged in the mutually beneficial partnership in the past three years.
The Commissioner also gave the names of other general hospitals in; Lapai, New Bussa, Mokwa and Suleja to benefit from the Maternal Ward Support Project in the state.
Chairman, MTN Foundation, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, had said that the initiative which is spread across six geo-political zones is a step towards addressing and reducing infant and maternal mortality in Nigeria.
The chairman represented by a director in the foundation, Alhaji Muhammadu Liman, reiterated the resolve of the MTN Foundation to partner with governments and other well-meaning individuals to contribute positively to the development of the state.
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