FCT minister challenges NMA on preventive medicine

THE Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Muhammad Bello, has urged the leadership of the Nigerian Medical Association to champion the course of preventive medicine in Nigeria.

He said this would reduce the huge amount of resources expended on treatment of some common diseases in the country.

Speaking when he received the delegation from the association led by its national President, Professor Mike Ogirima, Bello said some of the common diseases ravaging the country were preventable.

He said the important thing was for people to be sensitised to the need to maintain a clean and healthy environment as well as encouraging them to undergo frequent medical check up.

He said the FCT administration introduced the Household and Community Sanitation Exercise, which was launched at the headquarters of all the six area councils of the FCT to enable the people at the satellite towns and rural areas key in.

Bello said: “I therefore, wish to call on the NMA to emphasise the issue of environmental sanitation during their outreach services. If you make a focal point to handle the issues of environment and traffic, I think you will find out that a lot of the patients you see in the hospitals will drastically reduce”.

He also urged the NMA to continue to support the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari as well as the FCTA to enable the government carry out policies that would impact positively on the lives of the people.