Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, on Friday, visited Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital, Bauchi, Bauchi State, where he paid patients’ medical bills running into millions of naira.
This was contained in a statement issued by the Media aide to the Speaker, Turaki Hassan and made available to the Saturday Tribune on Friday.
The statement noted that the Speaker was accompanied by Senators Suleiman Nazif and Ali Wakili and over 50 members of the House of Representatives who visited patients in different wards in the 700-bed hospital.
According to Dogara, the purpose of his visit was to extend support to people in need, especially at this period when the country is going through economic recession. The visit, he stated, was part of his free medical outreach to his people which he started last year.
He also used the opportunity to assess the facilities in the hospital.
Speaking with the hospital management after inspecting the hospital wards, Dogara said, “For us, health is very important and it has been said that health is wealth.
“As a matter of fact, if you put money in the hands of a sick person, the money diminishes, so it means health is the foundation of wealth. That’s why we have decided that this will be our first port of call.
“Last year, I sent a team of medical doctors here who stayed for over a week to attend to health needs of people in the state.
“Also attended to were people from Kano, Yobe, Gombe and Plateau states. Thousands of operations were successfully carried out then.
“I’m happy also to announce that I have been able to raise some amount for this hospital and the Federal Medical Centre, Azare and have handed over the money to the Chief Medical Directors of the hospitals.
“It is now up to them to decide which areas they will expend the money on.”
Moved by the plight of some patients he met and interacted with in the wards during his visit, the Speaker pledged to personally offset the bills of five patients which stood at N1, 266,600m. This is in addition to N2.5m which members of the National Assembly donated to offset other patients’ bills.