Doctors and other healthcare workers in the country have commended President Bola Tinubu for ordering the immediate upgrade of infrastructure and equipment of 16 health institutions across all six geo-political zones in the country.
According to The PUNCH, the President of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, Dr Dele Abdullahi, said the decision was a good move for the health sector.
Abdullahi said, “It is a good move; it is actually the way to go right now. It shows a government that is facing reality. We need to understand that we need health facilities that can be of good standards for people.
It is good that he has started with some of these facilities because if we say we want to upgrade all the facilities at once, we will just be wasting a lot of money and we will not see results, but if we focus on some health facilities, they will serve as referral centres for other tertiary centres. The aim of everything is adequate healthcare for all Nigerians.”
Also, the immediate past National President of the Joint Health Sector Unions, Dr Obinna Ogbonna, said while the upgrade of the facilities was a good move, there was a need to ensure that the infrastructure and equipment did not become obsolete.
“It is a welcome development. In 2004, former President Olusegun Obasanjo did something like that. He brought machines, and experts came to fix the machines. However, after a while, the machines became obsolete because there was no maintenance culture. Experts that were brought just came to fix the machines and left and there was no maintenance of those machines.
“However, it is a welcome development, if there is a sustainable ideology behind it. It’s not just coming to equip the hospitals and before you know they are not maintainable, so we need to train our people here to take charge of it and continue to maintain them.
“We also need to take into consideration that we need to get the spare parts of the machines in case the machines break down. We are the end users, he should not contract it out”.
President Bola Tinubu had on Friday approved the immediate upgrade of 16 health infrastructure and equipment across all six geo-political zones, including the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Surulere; and the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria.
Among them are six teaching hospitals marked for the establishment of oncology and nuclear medicine centres per facility all to be delivered within 12 – 18 months.
“The modernisations are “in line with his administration’s vision of overhauling the health and social welfare sector…to ensure that world-class cancer diagnosis and care is accessible…to all Nigerians,” said the Presidency in a statement signed by Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale.
Tinubu also approved critical health care service expansion projects across the fields of radiology, clinical pathology, medical and radiation oncology and cardiac catheterisation in 10 hospitals across all geo-political zones.
They are Reference Hospital, Kaduna (North-West) — (Radiology, clinical pathology, medical and radiation oncology), Medical Diagnostic Centre Complex, Enugu (South-East) — Radiology, clinical pathology, medical & radiation oncology), Usman Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto (North-West) — Diagnostic and intervention radiology, clinical pathology, and cardiac catheterisation, University College Hospital, Ibadan (South-West) — Diagnostic and intervention radiology, clinical pathology, and cardiac catheterization and the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (South-South) — Radiology and clinical pathology.
Others are Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi (North-East) — Radiology and clinical pathology, Federal Medical Centre, Asaba (South-South) — Radiology and clinical pathology, Harmony Advanced Diagnostic Centre Complex, Ilorin (North-Central) — Radiology and clinical pathology, Jos University Teaching Hospital (North-Central) — Radiology and clinical pathology and Federal Medical Centre, Nguru (North-East) — Radiology and clinical pathology.
