The Katsina State Government has initiated measures to limit medical tourism by Nigerians.
This was made known to journalists by the deputy governor of the state, Malam Faruk Lawal Jobe, in the second edition of the monthly briefing on the achievements of the government.
He said that it is in this regard that the state government is making frantic efforts to establish state-of-the-art facilities in its hospitals for the benefit of the people.
“This administration has completed the construction and equipping of the Amadi Rimi Katsina General Specialist Hospital dialysis centre, which is considered one of the best in the country with a total cost of N681,104,727.92.
“Furthermore, the contract for the construction and equipping of a modern diagnostic and imaging center was awarded at a total cost of N13,137,170,677.93 and work is currently underway at the site located at Amadi Rimi General Hospital, Katsina” , said.
The deputy governor said that the government has realized the need to address the issue of sale and consumption of substandard medicines, and said that this has also been addressed in the programs being implemented to achieve its objectives.
“In this sense, the Medicines and Medical Supplies Agency has been strengthened to ensure the purchase and supply of quality medicines through a rotating scheme. So far, medicines worth N3,331,031,121.00 have been purchased from reputed pharmaceutical companies and distributed to health centers in the state. Additionally, the state government, in collaboration with the Global Fund, renovated and converted a warehouse to pharmaceutical level at a cost of N766,815,832.00.
“This facility is strategically located to play a vital role in ensuring the efficient storage and distribution of essential medicines. “Furthermore, the state government has awarded the contract for the construction and equipping of a modern pharmaceutical production unit for a total cost of N1,689,198,074 and the construction is ongoing,” he said.
Similarly, on the achievements made so far since its inception, the state government said that it also maintained the Free Medicare Policy for deliveries, prenatal sessions, dialysis, caesarean sections and some other free services. Jobe said in this regard, the sum of N397,000,000:00 was spent during the period under review.
He said the exercise is aimed at helping the teeming population of Katsina State, especially the less privileged, access basic healthcare services with relative ease.
In the area of manpower, the government has recruited 254 additional health workers for secondary health centers in the state, the government said, with this it intends to inject more manpower to handle the increasing health demands.
These include doctors, nurses and midwives, medical laboratory scientists and pharmacists; The enrollment of approximately 26,000 retirees in the state in the Basic Health Care Provision Fund is ongoing.
“I am pleased to inform you that this scheme has proven to be a great success in this state as the Agency received awards for its outstanding contributions to the health sector for two consecutive terms of the Nigerian Healthcare Excellence Award (NHEA)” Jobe said. saying.
Furthermore, he said, the need for effective primary health care delivery services cannot be overemphasized. In this regard, he said, the State Primary Health Care Agency spent the sum of N1,912,640,301 to carry out its functions to provide effective healthcare service to the people of the state.
He said: “These activities include, among others, the construction of a dry warehouse, the purchase and distribution of laptops to LGA monitoring and evaluation officers for data management to improve evidence-based decision making in delivery of medical care”.
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