In a significant move aimed at strengthening primary healthcare delivery, the Federal Government on Saturday handed over a consignment of reproductive health equipment and essential medical commodities to the Gombe State Government.
The handover ceremony, held in Gombe, was presided over by the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate.
He described the intervention as part of a nationwide initiative to enhance healthcare services at the grassroots level, particularly for women, children, and vulnerable populations.
“You have done a lot to expand access to primary healthcare,” Pate told the state officials, “but as part of the sector-wide approach, the Federal Government is also contributing its share to ensure that PHCs deliver quality care.”
The items donated are intended for Primary Health Centres (PHCs) across all 11 local government areas in the state. They include delivery beds, baby resuscitation workstations, ultrasound machines with fetal dopplers, hospital beds and mattresses, suction machines, microscopes, diagnostic tools, weighing scales, and 25 Solar Direct Drive units for vaccine storage.
Also included were bundled packs of 60 essential medicines ranging from analgesics and anti-malarials to medications for maternal care and family planning.
Professor Pate praised the Gombe State Government for its proactive investments in the healthcare sector, particularly through the state’s Primary Healthcare Development Agency and its contributory health scheme, Go-Health. He reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to working closely with states under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s “Renewed Hope Agenda” to reform the health sector nationwide.
“This initiative is being implemented across the 36 states of the federation, but we are beginning with Gombe. Other states will follow,” he said.
Receiving the items, Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya expressed gratitude to President Tinubu and the Federal Government for what he called a “timely and critical” intervention. He noted that the support would bolster his administration’s ongoing health reforms, including revitalizing PHCs and recruiting more health workers.
“We have prioritized healthcare as a key component of our development agenda. This donation will strengthen our capacity and complement our efforts in providing quality health services to our people,” Yahaya stated.
Also speaking, Mr. Abba Ibrahim Musa, Gombe State Coordinator of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), the implementing agency, highlighted that the intervention specifically targets maternal and child health improvement and access to reproductive healthcare.