What makes Kano state health sector tick under Ganduje by Yahaya Umar
On Wednesday August 9, 2017, the President, Registrar and members of the National Post-Graduate Medical College of Nigeria led by Prof. Musa Borodo of Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital paid a courtesy call on His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Kano State, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, OFR during which the college president presented an award to the governor in recognition of his administration’s commitment to the development of the health sector in the state and the country at large.
According to the august visitors, the State was chosen as host of the annual conference of the college in view of the monumental achievements recorded in the past two years especially in the health sector in addition to the State’s peaceful atmosphere, political stability, the clean and serene environment and other considerations which are due to the visionary and far-sighted leadership qualities of His Excellency, the Executive Governor ably assisted by loyal and dedicated lieutenants.
In his inaugural speech, His Excellency, the Executive Governor categorily stated that:
“The APC Administration will focus on preventive approach to health care delivery system. This approach is mainly to reduce the prevalence of common killer diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, Polio, Malaria and dysentery to mention a few. The programme of Routine Immunization will be given top priority to protect our children from preventable disease.
"At this juncture I have to appreciate and acknowledge the contributions of Bill and Melinda Gates and Dangote Foundations in this respect. After adequate consultations with stakeholders, we will examine the policy of State Health Insurance Scheme. The target groups will involve public, private and communities. The service of Environmental Health Workers (Duba Gari) will be invigorated to be more functional at all times. They will be empowered to return to physical inspection of houses, markets, abattoirs etc. and enforce the relevant laws. A legislation banning tobacco smoking in public places will be forwarded to Honourable Kano State House of Assembly for appropriate legislation.”
For any meaningful and sustainable progress to be attained in all spheres of human endeavours, the people of any society must be healthy in both body and mind as there is an indisputable correlation between the state of health of the citizens of any country and their level of socio-economic development. To realize this, in addition to having a united, cohesive and progressive society, those at the helm of affairs must give priority attention to society’s health sector by committing huge financial, material and human resources to the protection and promotion of the health of the people. In the last two millennia, the world has seen a phenomenal advancement in the fields of medicine, science and technology, etc which has resulted in making the health sector more complex, sophisticated and capital-intensive to run especially with the emergence of many health challenges that continue to task many governments and stakeholders alike.
In Kano State with its huge population and relative economic development that continues to attract many people from within and outside the country, the present administration under His Excellency, the Executive Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, OFR, has been given priority attention to the health of the citizenry since its inception on 29th May, 2015. Despite the current economic recession that affects all tiers of governments in the country, the State Government has remained undauntedly committed toward the provision of quality health service through the provision of infrastructures, recruitment of qualified medical personnel, procurement of state-of-the-art equipment as well as provision of drugs and other medical consumables to all primary, secondary and even tertiary health facilities in the State.
The most important achievement of the Ganduje administration in the health sector is the completion of the two multi-billion Naira Paediatric Hospital along Zoo Road and the Giginyu General Hospital which were abandoned for almost a decade despite their direct impact on the lives of the ordinary people of the State upon completion. Apart from committing colossal amount of money running to millions of Naira to the completion of the two ultra-modern hospitals, the Government also approved the sums of N964,883,036.56 and N1,999,053,126.54 for the procurement of modern equipment and furniture for the paediatric and Giginyu hospitals respectively and most of these gadgets have already been installed and are undergoing test-running preparatory to the grand commissioning of the hospitals by His Excellency, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR.
Still under the administration’s policy of provision of infrastructures to the health sector, a number of health facilities have been upgraded, rehabilitated or renovated for better service delivery to the citizenry. These include upgrading of Dawakin Tofa Cottage Hospital to a general hospital, Sabon Gari Middle Road Primary Health Centre (PHC) to Maternal and Child Health Centre (MCHC), Rimin Gado Primary Health Care to a cottage hospital, Chidari Basic Health Centre (BHC) to a Comprehensive Health Centre (CHC), Getso Maternal and Child Health Centre to a cottage hospital, Makoda Model Primary Health Centre to a cottage hospital, etc.
In addition to the upgrade, many other health facilities too numerous to mention due to space constraints were renovated, expanded and rehabilitated. Among these are the many health training institutions for the production of qualified health personnel in the State.
The administration has also done superlatively well in the area of provision of specialized equipment to the various health facilities across the State. This undertaking has gulped billions of Naira but it is a worthwhile expenditure because as the saying goes, health is wealth. To cite only a few examples, specialized equipment worth N400 million was provided to Muhammad Abdullahi Wase and Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospitals. These pieces of modern equipment include CT Scan, mammography and anaesthetic machines.
Having realized the importance of partnering with development partners and donor agencies for the development of the sector, the State Government has signed a number of memoranda of understanding in order to tackle some formidable health challenges like the fight against the debilitating polio virus and this partnership has proved very fruitful to the State. For example, the MoU signed by the State Government, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Dangote Foundation on routine immunization has recorded a huge success because no case of polio virus has been recorded in the State for almost three years now.
The government has also pursued a progressive policy on manpower recruitment, career development through training within and outside the country and provision of welfare package which has led to a peaceful and harmonious industrial relation in the State. Since the inception of the Ganduje administration, the medical personnel have never gone on strike unlike in many other states in the federation. The government has not placed any embargo on the recruitment of health workers and over 400 personnel have been employed while many others have been sponsored for local and overseas training.
In order to have a functionally robust health sector in the State that provides efficient and effective health care service at minimal cost to the common man, the State Government has sustained and expanded the Drugs Revolving Funds aimed at providing affordable and quality drugs to patients. To cite only a few examples, the administration procured anti-retroviral drugs, and HIV Rapid Test Kits (RTKs) for the free treatment of HIV/AIDS patients in the State, drugs worth over N170 million were procured in collaboration with MNCH2 for distribution to pregnant women and children and to address the scourge of malaria in the State anti-malarial drugs (ACTs and SPs), rapid diagnostic test kits, insecticide treated nets, gloves and other consumables and data tools worth millions of Naira were procured and distributed to health facilities.
Worth-mentioning are the introduction of some programmes aimed at ensuring environmental sanitation for a healthy society. These include the monthly sanitation exercise every last Saturday of the month, Lungu Kalkal programme under which covered reinforced concrete drainages with inter-locking tiles and streetlights are constructed in the metropolis to prevent rodents and vectors like mosquitoes from having safe and conducive breeding grounds and the employment of 1,000 sanitation vanguards or Dakarun Tsafta who are saddled with the responsibility of ensuring personal and environmental hygiene. This is in addition to reviving the functions of sanitary officials (Duba Gari) who are charged with the responsibility of enforcing the State public health edict in order to protect members of the general public from the dangers associated with the consumption of unwholesome food and other related products in the State.
The present administration has also established the State Contributory Health Care Management Agency in order to provide easily accessible, quality and affordable health care services to public servants and their families. Already the Board members composed of professionals have been inaugurated while preparations are in top gear for the full take-off of the Agency very soon. This achievement is very unprecedented because the government carried out wide consultations with various stakeholders in order to ensure that the agency is put on a good pedestal for the successful implementation of the contributory health care scheme in the State.
To fight the menace of drugs and substance abuse, the State Government has empowered and adequately funded the multi-agency Taskforce on Drugs Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in the State and in the course of its operations assorted illicit, substandard, counterfeit and fake drugs worth millions of Naira have been confiscated and incinerated. This is a great achievement in view of the great havoc drugs and substance abuse is wrecking on the people of the State especially the youth.
To enumerate all the laudable achievements of the Ganduje administration in the health sector alone since its inception on May 29, 2015 is to attempt the impossible because these singular achievements are too numerous to mention due to space constraints. Even the doubting Thomases, the pessimists and the so-called “opposition” elements do admit though grudgingly and secretly that the administration has recorded a lot of feats in many a sector especially health-wise. That is why a number of donor agencies like the MNCH2, development partners like Dangote Foundation and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and multi-lateral organizations like the WHO and UNICEF have demonstrated their willingness and commitment to work with the State Government to tackle many health challenges because they believe the Ganduje administration is serious, focussed, committed and far-sighted.
What is more, His Excellency, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, OFR, matches his words with action as testified by his fulfilment of his promises to complete all inherited projects like the Zoo Road and Giginyu hospitals. What is now needed is for the good people of Kano State to continue supporting and cooperating with the Government in order to deliver for the progress and development of this most populous State. What is more, the award given to His Excellency by the National Post-Graduate Medical College of Nigeria has really vindicated the amiable governor that he is a politician with a difference!
Yahaya Umar is the Director, Archives and Publications, Council Affairs Directorate, Office of the Secretary to the State Government, Government House, Kano.
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Source: Legit.ng
