Gombe State Govt. starts free healthcare services to vulnerable individuals
Gombe State Government has commenced free healthcare services to no fewer than 25,000 poor and vulnerable individuals across the state.
The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Habu Dahiru, made this known at a ceremony for the signing of a service level agreement with relevant stakeholders in Gombe on Monday.
Dahiru said the agreement was in line with the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF), a Federal Government intervention requiring counterpart funding from state governments.
According to him, the idea is to provide basic minimum package of health services to Nigerians, particularly the poor and vulnerable, strengthen the Primary Health Care (PHC) and provide emergency medical treatment.
The commissioner added that “our participation in the BHCPF was made possible through the establishment of the Gombe State Contributory Health Care Management Agency (GoHealth) and payment of the 100 million counterpart fund by Gov. Inuwa Yahaya.”
He noted that so far, 25,000 poor and vulnerable individuals had been enrolled across the 114 wards to be provided free healthcare services at the nearest PHCs.
According to him, the 114 PHCs have been accredited by relevant agencies for the commencement of services to beneficiaries.
He urged stakeholders to abide by the guidelines of the BHCPF and warned that the state government would not tolerate any act of sabotage.
He assured that the service would be scaled up going forward to accommodate more people in line with the desire of the present administration to address health challenges, especially in rural areas.
Abdulrahman Shuaibu, the Executive Secretary of Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency, said the free healthcare would help in addressing health challenges of rural dwellers while improving the health of women and children.
Shuaibu said the initiative would help to reduce infant and maternal mortality.
Abubakar Musa, the Executive Secretary of GoHealth, said the services were free because the beneficiaries were poor and vulnerable and could not afford to pay the cost of healthcare.
“Government has taken care of their health needs and shall be paying the cost of services offered to them,” Musa said.