By Becky Maina,Gombe
Gombe State has concluded the screening exercise for candidates under the National Health Fellows Programme (NHFP), a Federal Government initiative aimed at strengthening healthcare leadership and service delivery at the grassroots across the country.
The exercise was conducted by the Gombe State Ministry of Health in collaboration with the National State-Wide Approach Programme (SWAP) Coordination Office and development partners, including the World Health Organization (WHO), at the WHO Conference Hall in Gombe.
A total of thirty-three young health professionals were shortlisted from the eleven local government areas of the state, out of which thirty candidates appeared for the screening.
The programme forms part of the Federal Government’s Sector-Wide Approach (SWAp) designed to improve healthcare monitoring, reporting and accountability across Nigeria’s 774 local government areas.
Speaking to journalists, the Gombe State SWAP Coordinator, Dr. Abdulkarim Sirajo, confirmed that the screening exercise has been concluded and the results forwarded to the national SWAP office for final consideration.
“Out of the thirty-three shortlisted candidates, thirty appeared for the screening.
The reports have been sent to the national office, which will make the final selection of eleven health fellows, representing one fellow from each local government area,” he disclosed.
The National Health Fellows Programme is expected to deploy one fellow to each local government area in Gombe State to support monitoring, reporting and accountability in health service delivery, with the aim of strengthening the state’s healthcare system at the grassroots level.