The Nasarawa State governor, Alhaji Abdullahi Sule today (December 15, 2022) renewed his administration’s resolve to deliver quality and affordable healthcare services to the people of the state.
Sule gave the assurance in Abuja, while receiving an award for giant strides in primary health care development from the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).
Science Nigeria reports that in August 2022, the NPHCDA recognised Nasarawa State as the overall best state in the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory for its implementation of best practices in COVID-19 vaccination and routine immunization.
Sule said that quality healthcare delivery to the people was one of the primary concerns of his administration.
“My administration is seriously committed to ensuring that the people of the state get access to quality and affordable healthcare,” he said, assuring that it would not relent in its determination to meet the needs of the people.
The governor noted the urgency to recruit more health workers in the state to meet the demands of the people.
Earlier, the executive director, NPHCDA, Dr. Faisal Shuaib applauded the governor for his stellar leadership and the unprecedented achievements in healthcare delivery which, no doubt, placed the state as the overall best for COVID-19 vaccination in the country.
According to Shuaib, the state represents all that is needed to build a resilient primary healthcare system; efforts that traverse programmatic, infrastructural, workforce and fiscal initiatives.
The NPHCDC boss highlighted four major achievements of the governor in the state’s health sector.
“Key achievement in the state cuts across vital components of the health system, including programmatic, infrastructural, workforce and fiscal successes,” he said.
Shuaib said that the payment of stipends for the community health influencers, promoters and services (CHIPS) agents increased demand generation for PHC services in the state.
Also, he listed the state’s top-of-the-table performance in the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the state, approval for engagement with traditional rulers to strengthen community participation for increased uptake of routine immunization and other PHC intervention.
Shuaib added that the governor signed the revised Nasarawa State Primary Healthcare Development Agency Law & Gazette and released counter-part funds of N100 million to kick-start the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHCPF) to support 147 health facilities in the state.
“Payment of N100 million counterpart funds for the impact project payment of capitation for indigent patients in the state.
“Release of counterpart funds for the implementation of maternal and child health (MNCH) and supplementary immunisation activities in the state,” he said.
The NPHCDA helmsman said that the agency [takes] pride in the progress that it has made in reaching 54.0 per cent eligible persons with COVID-19 vaccines as of December 13, 2022.
He said 60,405,071 of the total eligible persons targeted for COVID-19 vaccination were fully vaccinated while 12,370,205 of the total eligible persons targeted for COVID-19 vaccination were partially vaccinated.
“Of course, the struggle continues and it is a matter of sworn trust that we protect the health of our people.
“It is not easy walking through the high-impact of misinformation and disinformation and getting people to willingly accept the COVID-19 vaccine.
“To a lesser extent, we had some experience with polio immunization, but today we have been certified wild polio virus-free. Even the emergence of the circulating variant poliovirus has been significantly controlled in Nigeria,” Shuaib explained.
He added that the agency has also set aside a variety of awards for the governors of Jigawa, Kwara and Kano states, for picking up speed in their immunisation programmes.
