Gombe governor decries state of health sector

Gombe State Governor, Alhaji Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya, has decried the poor state of health care delivery services in the state as he constituted and inaugurated a 9-man Task Force on Health Sector, with former Chief Medical Director (CMD), Federal Teaching Hospital,  Gombe,  Professor Usman Aliyu El-Nafaty as Chairman.

The Task Force committee is charting a way forward in addressing the entire deplorable state of the health sector in the state.

While inaugurating the committee in his office, Monday afternoon, Governor Muhammad Inuwa said that a visit to some health facilities shortly after his swearing-in on May showed that the health sector had been neglected by successive administrations thereby resulting in the poor or inadequate equipment in the health facilities.

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The Governor who vowed that his administration would do its best in addressing the situation charged the committee to review the operational framework on human resource for the health sector vis-a-vis the disposition of health workforce across the tiers of the health system of the State.

Other terms of reference given to the committee was for it to suggest and implement immediate ways of bridging the health workforce gap in the state; conduct a rapid needs assessment (physical and operational) of key health facilities especially the Specialist Hospital and recommend improvements in the short, medium and long term bases needed for the facilities to meet the required standard of their establishment.

The committee was also mandated to critically appraise the abandoned projects in the Specialist Hospital and see to its immediate completion using the best available option to the Government.

While responding on behalf of the Task Force Committee, it’s Chairman, Professor Usman Aliyu El-Nafaty, a former Chief Medical Director, Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe, lamented the poor health indices of the North-East which Gombe is part of saying that  he is always worried whenever such indices are mentioned during several meetings he attends in Abuja.

He thanked the Governor for finding them worthy for the job and promised to work assiduously to deliver within the mandate given to the Task Force Committee.

Other members of the committee include; Dr Mohammed Isa Umar, Architect Yunusa Yakubu, Dr James Emmanuel Madi, Dr Muazu Ishaq, Ahmed Mohammed Kabir, Dr Joshua Abubakar Difa, Mrs Rachael Massa and Hajiya Zainab Idris Haruna is to serve as the Committee’s secretary.