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The Federal Government has rebuilt over 4000 primary healthcare centres (PHCs) across the federation in line with the 10,000 rehabilitation target of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, who spoke while opening the six-day medical/dental surgical mission of the Association of Nigerian Physicians in America (ANPA) for 3000 residents of Jiwa, Tungan Gwazo and Kubwa communities in Abuja, noted that the current government was reviving the collapsed primary healthcare sector and repositioning it for better delivery.
He said: “Our target is to rehabilitate 10,000. We have done over 4000. FCT is doing 225, Osun State, 332, and Kaduna, 250. We are moving towards the 10,000 mark.”
The minister said government was to fund PHCs through the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund supported by the World Bank and the DFID.
Adewole explained that his ministry received $20million from the global financial institution and another $2 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation while government had mapped out a N13.7 billion first quarter allocation for the initiative.
According to him,”the Federal Government wants to rebuild the secondary healthcare system working with the states while it concentrates on the tertiary healthcare system. We are hoping that by the next few years, the healthcare system in Nigeria will be back to shape. We can build the human resources required to make it functional.”
The president of ANPA, Dr. Charmine Emeleife, said the association wants a healthier Nigeria and was disturbed the parlous health delivery in the country.
She disclosed that the association came with over 70 doctors and 70 health providers, including nurses, pharmacists and laboratory scientists from the United States, to “collectively provide world class healthcare services in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).”
Emeleife added that the programme would ensure that at least 400 cases were treated from the three centres and about 20 surgical issues handled daily within the six days of the medical outreach.
The medic noted that the association performed 120 surgical cases in five days, adding that it intends to carry out between 120 and 150 operations in the next five to six days.