Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya has flagged off the State Contributory Healthcare Scheme (GoHealth) with the renewed commitment to ensure all residents of the State have access to quality health service at an affordable cost without suffering financial hardship.
Unveiling plans for further improvement in the State’s Healthcare delivery system Governor Muhammadu Yahaya revealed that his administration has equally constituted the Governing Board and posted appropriate and competent staff to the Gombe State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency to ensure successful implementation of the scheme in the State.
This, Governor Inuwa Yahaya said is part of the electioneering campaigns, where he promised the people of the state that his administration will take bold steps to holistically address the numerous challenges facing the health care delivery system in the State.
After securing the Mandate, Government he said, set up a needs assessment team that toured over 400 communities across the state to identify and prioritize the needs of our people, where access to quality health care was duly identified as the most pressing problem bedevilling our people.
Governor Muhammadu lamented the extensive decay in the health system discovered following years of neglect by the immediate past administration. Scrutiny revealed the state of shambles in which the health institutions in State were in, without essential drugs and lacking, equipment and human resource.
It is partly for this reason that the new administration of Muhammadu Yahaya adopted a holistic approach to address the challenges so as to improve the overall wellbeing as well as financial accessibility to basic healthcare services. Apart from the fact that our health indices were among the worst in the country, yet, the system was being overstretched due to the influx of IDPs from our neighbouring states.
The Governor explained that at the primary health care level, his administration has commenced immediate revitalization of at least 1 fully functional PHC in each of the 114 political wards of the state in collaboration with the World Bank-supported Nigeria State Health Investment Project (NSHIP) which saw the injection of over 600 million as counterpart funds.
“Today, I am proud to say we have at least 1 PHC in every ward of the state that is fully revitalized and open 24-hours a day in order to provide basic health services to our people at the grassroots”.
Earlier the Commissioner of Health, Dr Habu Dahiru, in his welcome address, said the establishment of the Gombe State Contributory Healthcare Scheme (GoHealth) is a deliberate effort by the administration of Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya to achieve Universal Health Coverage for the people of the State.
Dr Dahiru said introducing such a scheme will no doubt protect individuals and families from financial difficulties should they have the cause to visit the hospital for medical attention.
Equally, the Chairman, Governing Board of the Gombe State Contributory Healthcare Scheme (GoHealth) Dr Mohammed Isa Umar commended Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya for exhibiting a sign of rare courage and political will towards the establishment of the Scheme.
He said 6 months after its establishment, the scheme has rolled out two important programmes to include a basic health care programme for 25,000 Poor and Vulnerable Households PVHHs in the State.
Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, alongside other top Government functionaries including the Deputy Governor, Dr Manassah Daniel Jatau, the Speaker Gombe State House of Assembly, Hon. Abubakar Mohammed Luggerewo as well as traditional rulers led the way by becoming the first set to be enrolled in the Gombe State Contributory Healthcare Scheme (GoHealth).
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