The Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, has said that the Federal Government is to commit N1.6 billion, as special intervention fund in the health sector in the North-East, which has been ravaged by Boko Haram insurgency.
The Minister, who disclosed this in Maiduguri Monday said that in addition to this, the federal government is going to establish a Trauma Centre at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) to cater for the victims of insurgency.
Prof. Adewole said “the health care system in Borno has broken down completely, as a result of the insurgency but with the good leadership at the centre, the Federal Government is poised to develop the health system to the fullest, in order to make health care services available to everybody.”
He assured the government and people of Borno state, that the Federal Government will build functional Primary Health Care Units in every ward of the country, so that health delivery services will be provided free for all Nigerians, adding that the ministry will commence the treatment of 200,000 children who are suffering from malnutrition in three months in the North-east.
The minister said the Federal Government is going to construct 100 health centers in its first 100 days in office, and called on all state governments to partner with the Federal Government.
He said the Trauma Centre, which will be established before the end of 2016, is going to take care of victims of Boko Haram insurgency, stressing that when the insurgency is over the centre will also take care of accident victims.
Responding, Governor Kashim Shettima said the visit of the minister and other ministers of the federation indicates the renewed vigor and commitment of the Federal Government to the people of Borno state.
He said the insurgency is caused by extreme poverty and unless the government takes care of youth empowerment and education, solving the current problem will only be temporary.
The governor also paid tribute to the management and staff of UMTH for standing by the government and people of the state during the heat of the insurgency, pointing out that victims of bomb blasts, gunshots and other forms of attack were brought to the hospital right from incident scenes and were attended to without paying a single Kobo.
He appealed to the Federal Government to assist the Kidney centre of the UMTH with state of the art equipment, as the hospital has trained personnel who can operate the equipment.
