Adamawa state governor, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, has directed senior medical officers in the state to submit requests for critical hospital equipment directly to his office as part of efforts to improve healthcare delivery and address the growing emigration of Nigerian doctors.
The governor gave the directive on Monday during a courtesy visit by the Association of Principal Medical Officers (APMO) to the Government House in Yola, where he spoke on the challenges facing the state’s health sector, particularly the nationwide “brain drain” affecting the medical profession.
Fintiri said allowing frontline medical personnel to communicate their equipment needs directly to the executive would enable the government to identify urgent gaps in public hospitals and respond to them more quickly.
Under the new arrangement, Principal Medical Officers from tertiary institutions and state-managed hospitals will be allowed to bypass intermediate administrative channels when reporting critical equipment shortages and other urgent clinical needs.
The governor said the measure was aimed at ensuring that medical facilities have the necessary tools to provide quality services while creating a better working environment for healthcare professionals.
The administration has also embarked on several health-sector interventions across the state, including the construction of seven new cottage hospitals and the renovation of existing healthcare facilities.
In the area of specialised care, the government is installing CT scanners in Numan and Michika, while new dialysis equipment has been provided at the Adamawa State Specialist Hospital.
The government is also distributing modern ultrasound machines across the state’s 21 local government areas, federal health centres and the state teaching hospital to strengthen diagnostic services, particularly maternal healthcare.
Addressing concerns over the retention of medical personnel, Fintiri pledged to review the welfare of medical officers and work towards aligning their conditions of service with national benchmarks.
He also highlighted measures aimed at increasing the local supply of trained doctors, including the establishment of a College of Medicine at Adamawa State University.
The state government has increased the monthly stipend for undergraduate medical students from N8,500 to N100,000 and is also sponsoring postgraduate medical training abroad.
Earlier, the State Chairman of APMO, Dr Zamani Tizhe, commended the Fintiri administration for its interventions in the health sector.
Tizhe particularly cited the recent second increase in the running costs of general hospitals as a significant boost to the operational capacity of healthcare facilities across the state.
The measures, according to the administration, are designed to strengthen public healthcare infrastructure, improve access to specialised medical services and create better conditions for retaining doctors and other healthcare professionals in Adamawa state.