FG set to make 10,000 primary health centres functional —Minister

The Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, has disclosed that the Federal Government has concluded arrangements to make over 10,000 primary healthcare centres across the country functional.

Professor Adewole made this known at the weekend during a luncheon held in his honour by the retired Supreme Court Justice and ex-chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Justice Emmanuel Olayinka Ayoola, in Ibadan

Adewale said the 10,000 functional health centres across the country was an integral focal point of his ministry.

According to him, “We have 30,000 Primary Health Centers (PHCs) existing in Nigeria today, our focus in the first phase is to make 10,000 of them functional, accessible and we’ll equip them with personnel/drugs to attend to major ailments confronting Nigerians among which are malaria, cholera, diarrhoea, infections thereby reducing the mounted pressure on the secondary and tertiary health institutions.

“These PHCs are currently paying unparalleled attention to children and women in a bid to reduce infant mortality, death associated with pregnancy in women. In 2016 budget alone, we have refurbished and renovated many and of a truth, contracts have been awarded for another 18 PHCs in the six south western states.

“We are also partnering with international agencies who have shown interest in renovating another set, while Mrs. Toyin Saraki using her foundation in conjunction with Access Bank is also reconstructing one in every state in the country.

“This is aside from the ones we would embark on in the 2017 budget which is presently before the national assembly. I can assure you that citizens of this country under the present administration will enjoy comprehensive, affordable and effective medical care.”

The Ijesa Elders used the occasion to request the Minister’s support for the uplift of the Ilesa community, and in his response, Adewole who is also an Ijesa man, said, “I am very very much in connection with the Governor of Osun State. And I am not a Minister who is at war with your Governor. We have the collective responsibility to develop Osun State. My own concern is mainly about health and I know the concern of many people about upgrading the Wesley Guild Hospital.

“I want to assure you clearly that Wesley Guild Hospital will start enjoying support as part of OAU Teaching Hospital, and as soon as we have presidential approval, it will become a Federal Medical Centre. It requires the Presidential approval because His Excellency wrote to request for it. We have some representatives who also passed a resolution that we upgrade it and I am prepared to assess the situation on ground,” he promised his kinsmen.