Governor Buni’s healthcare revolution in Yobe State, by Mamman Mohammed
The first wealth, they say is health, and so says the maxim, a healthy nation is a wealthy nation. The height to which a government, be it state or federal propels healthcare delivery to the people is therefore no doubt, a major yardstick for measuring its development deliveries to its people. This explains why good health and well-being of the people occupy a prominent position on the list of the Sustainable Development Goals.
For the Yobe State Governor, Hon. Mai Mala Buni, CON, the priority of having efficient, affordable, and accessible healthcare system to the people is both nonnegotiable, a compelling necessity and simply urgent. And more importantly so, taking into cognisance, massive destruction of government health institutions and schools arising from prolonged and protracted Boko Haram insurgency.
In a show of uncommon commitment and political will, the Buni administration rolled out a policy of one functional Primary Healthcare Centre in each of the 178 political wards to bring healthcare delivery to the doorsteps of the people.
The success of establishing 139 functional Primary Healthcare Centres out of the proposed 178 centres for each political ward makes this feat unprecedented. The 30-bed capacity, 139 Primary Health centres translates into a total of 4,170 new bed spaces created by the Yobe State Government at a critical time when others engage in repairs of leaking roofs without additional bed spaces to complement the overstretched facilities in the public hospitals.
Today, the 139 Primary Healthcare Centres in Yobe State have been completed, equipped, commissioned, and put to use. Each of the Centres has an equipped laboratory, labour room, stocked pharmacy, male and female wards for admission of patients, and accommodation for the medical personnel posted to these facilities to ensure 24/7 services in the communities.
For the border communities of Bulatura, in Yusufari Local Government Area,. Gumsi, in Yusufari Local Government Area, Dole Machina and Taganama in Machina Local Government Area, and Ma’ana, in Geidam Local Government Area, it is a new dawn.
The establishment of the functional primary health centres had saved them from crossing into Niger Republic to access healthcare services. It was a long-awaited dream come true.
And to further take healthcare delivery to the next level in Yobe State, the Buni administration upgraded four General Hospitals to Specialists Hospitals, and eight Primary Health Centres to General Hospitals, with all the necessary equipment and facilities befitting of Specialist, and General Hospitals thereby boosting the secondary healthcare delivery and bringing healthcare services much closer to the people.
Worried by the distasteful and avoidable record of high maternal and child mortality in the state, Governor Buni constructed the ambitious 375-bed capacity Maternity and Child care health complex which is undoubtedly Nigeria’s largest maternity and child care clinic.
The structure is made up of seven blocks of one storey complex with patient-friendly spaces in accordance with the global best practice in modern maternal, newborn, and paediatric health care as obtained in advanced countries. The architectural masterpiece would satisfactorily take care of expectant/nursing mothers, their newborn babies as well as children in general.
The Obstetrics and Gynaecology wing of the Complex has 64 open cubicles, five call duty rooms, five satellite pharmacies, one side laboratory, and four nurses’ stations. The Special Baby Care Unit (SCBU) has three adjoining generously spacious and nicely done wards, that is 28 baby cots wards for newborn babies suspected of sepsis, 10 newborn cots wards for out-born babies, and 10 newborn baby cots wards for In-born babies, four nurses’ stations, 10-bed space room/unit for their nursing mothers. In addition, there is a 10-bed space room for nursing mothers to breastfeed their newborn babies, five doctor’s rest/call duty rooms, five nurses’ rest/change rooms, five offices for the unit matron in charge, four additional offices for health information management/documentation, seminar room, a library, kitchen and stores. Every inch of this project is simply edged with lasting touch of appealing beauty and guarantees for efficiency.
The labour ward and obstetrics theatre units have four operation suites (including attached sterilisation and scrubbing area, six recovery rooms, additional offices for anaesthetics perioperative nurses, other theatre support staff, males and females change rooms, common room for staff on duty, seminar and computer rooms.
The paediatric medical ward has 40 cubicles, four call rooms, four side labs, and a satellite pharmacy. Similarly, the Emergency Paediatrics Unit has 32 beds, space cubicles (including a resuscitation cubicle), 2 doctor’s call duty rooms, a side laboratory, a nurses’ station, a change room, a satellite pharmacy, and eight staff offices.
Apart from the gigantic MNCH Complex, the Yobe State Government under the able and dynamic leadership of Hon Mai Mala Buni, CON, has constructed a modern 150-bed capacity isolation centre with a state-of-the-art Public Health Laboratory at the Yobe State University Teaching Hospital Damaturu.
In line with Governor Buni’s policy of providing standard and functional health facilities at all levels, state-of-the-art equipment have been installed at the centre to provide the necessary healthcare services to mother and child, to curb the menace of maternal and child mortality in the state.
Meanwhile, a 32-apartment block of officer’s quarters has been constructed at the State Teaching Hospital to improve the existing horsemanship programme at the Yobe State Specialist Hospital Damaturu.
Commissioning the complex last January, former President Muhammadu Buhari, said the complex can provide maternity and child care services to all the states in the North Eastern Sub-region. This position was further corroborated by the United Nations Resident Representative in Nigeria, Mohamed Yahya, who led a high-powered delegation to the state recently.
Mohamed said, “The investment in the health sector is pretty impressive and Yobe State is back on the path of development after the devastation by the insurgency. We are quite impressed with the potential of the facilities dealing with maternal and child healthcare challenges”.
There is no doubt that the reforms introduced in healthcare delivery by the Buni administration are achieving very positive results. It has ensured the sustainability of providing affordable and accessible healthcare delivery to the people of Yobe State. It is obvious that the Contributory Healthcare Programme of the state is performing creditably well and has earned Yobe State the first position in securing 100 percent implementation in the Northeast sub-region.
The State Contributory Healthcare Scheme, established four years ago, has provided effective and efficient healthcare delivery to the state civil servants, the weak and vulnerable through the formal and informal sectors programme.
Dr Babagana Tijjani, the Executive Secretary of Yobe State Contributory Health Management Agency (YOCHMA), said over 300,000 persons in both the formal and non-formal sectors enjoy services of the state Contributory Health agency to access medical services.
Impressed with the programme, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded a prize of N30 Million to the Yobe State Government for being the best-performing state in the Northeast sub-region. The award provided YOCHMA with an opportunity to enroll 2,500 additional vulnerable persons into the programme to have access to effective and efficient medical services.
“We now run five programmes accommodating 201,655 beneficiaries from the formal sector covering 96% of our target; We also have the Buni Equity Programme covering 28,871 beneficiaries, and 43,997 beneficiaries for the
Basic Healthcare provision fund programme while the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has 2,500 beneficiaries.
Dr. Tijjani further said Yobe was the only state with such a record of achievement to attract the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation award, just as the UNICEF approved N229 Million to enroll 7000 additional beneficiaries complementing the Buni equity programme for vulnerable persons and to construct a standard ICT Centre for YOCHMA.
Similarly, the establishment of the Yobe Drugs and Medical Consumables Management Agency (YODMA) to ensure the availability of drugs in government hospitals, the Yobe State Healthcare and Health Related Facilities Inspection and Monitoring Agency to ensure the quality of healthcare services provided by both government and private hospitals in the state and the Yobe State Emergency Medical Ambulance Services to provide emergency medical services to victims of road traffic accidents and victims of domestic accidents, in addition to the earlier launched 88 ccustomised ricycle ambulances have no doubt promoted effective and efficient healthcare services across the state in line with the Sustainable Development Goal on healthcare, and Governor Buni’s vision on healthcare development in Yobe State.
The recruitment of Medical Doctors, and the automatic employment offered to Nurses and Midwives graduates of the state-owned Shehu Sule College of Nursing and Midwifery, and the College of Health Technology have collectively improved the manpower needs of the health institutions.
At the State Teaching Hospital, state-of-the-art machines and equipment have been provided to boost healthcare services. It also introduced electronic medical data and information files for patients which can be accessed for advanced diagnosis by specialists and consultants across the world without necessarily travelling out of the hospital.
Impressed by its wonderful performances in upscaling of Primary Healthcare in the state, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) adjudged Yobe as the best-performing State in the recently conducted Programme Assessment for Performance Management and Action Routine Immunisation Lots Quality Assurance Sampling (PAPA RI LQAS).
In a related development, Yobe State has also emerged as the third most improved state in the country in Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health plus Nutrition (RMNCAH+N) services according to a report by NPHCDA. Yobe State recorded significant improvements in Antenatal Care attendance and Skilled Birth Attendance. The state also received an award for the Most Improved State in Nigeria in Routine Immunisation (awarded by NPHCDA) and also emerged as the best State in Nigeria in terms of implementation of the Primary Health Care Under One Roof Scorecard assessment with a total score of 97%. There is no doubt that the remarkable policies, reforms, and infrastructures have transformed Yobe State’s Health sector, providing accessible and affordable healthcare to the people at their doorsteps.
Yobe State today provides world-class medical treatment and is fast becoming a medical tourism centre, attracting patients from far and near to access efficient and affordable medical services. Alh. Adamu Hashimu, a retired Permanent Secretary in the Bauchi state civil service whose ailing son was referred to Egypt for surgery, attested to what Yobe State symbolizes medically. His neighbour who is a medical doctor however suggested to him to go to Yobe State Teaching Hospital as an alternative with very less financial implication as an option to the referral to Egypt. He opted for the Yobe Teaching Hospital and the son had the first successful surgery at less than N40,000, and a second surgery also successful, with about the same financial cost.
He expressed delight with a famous remark that “l had never expected these services to be obtainable here in Yobe State, Governor Mai Mala Buni has done exceptionally well to bring affordable and efficient healthcare services to his people. In Yobe State under the Buni administration, democracy is truly and evidently working. I passionately appeal to other state governors to emulate the Buni example. On behalf of my humble self and family, l sincerely congratulate and express our profound gratitude to the governor, government and people of Yobe State.”
Mamman is the DG, Press and Media Affairs to Gov. Mai Mala Buni, CON.
