By Abdallah el-Kurebe
Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano state has announced plans by his administration to provide functional primary healthcare centers in the 484 political wards in the state.
He made the assertion when he received the Chairman, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, AKTH, Board of Directors, Mr Emma Eneukwu who visited him at the Government House in Kano.
“This vision is driven by our desire to alleviate the stress on tertiary health care facilities like Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital. Presently the hospital’s capacity has been overstretched due to increasing number of patients but when you have functional primary health care centers, the burden will be less.
“We are also about to start the upgrade of hospitals in our four new Emirates to 400 – bed capacity. When we finish the work and provide them with standard equipment and health workers, it will minimize the need for coming to the city for medical attention”, the governor said.
Ganduje added that the health sector was very critical to his administration as a result of which huge resources were invested in the completion of the Muhammadu Buhari Specialist Hospital and the Isyaku Rabiu Pediatric Hospital, which are generally adjudged as the best public health facilities in the country.
“In this direction, we are constructing a Cancer treatment center, similar to the one I saw in Melbourne, Australia. This, also, will hopefully be the first of its kind in this country”, he disclosed.
Specifically, on Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, the governor stated that the institution had been collaborating with the state government to promote public health, especially in the area of capacity building of health professionals.
Speaking earlier, Mr Eneukwu cimmemded the state governor for constructing the hospital’s Community Medicine Complex and for appointing several personnel of the hospital into key positions in his government.
He however, appealed to the government to help in renovating the road network inside the hospital and to rectify its electricity cables that were damaged as a result of a capital project, under construction in the surrounding area.
