The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire has commended Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed for organizing what he calls “the first ever comprehensive health summit in Northern”, describing it as a giant step towards repositioning the health care sector in Bauchi.
The minister who declared the health summit opened at Command Guest House Bauchi says COVID-19 pandemic has exposed Nigeria’s weak health care system, adding “but it has provided us opportunities to restructure our health care systems and make them better.”
Dr. Ehanire said the health summit organized by Bauchi State government will offer the state opportunities to adopt comprehensive and pragmatic approaches to addressing the myriad of problems bedeviling the sector.
The minister described the conduct of the summit as timely, arguing that the use of technology will enhance the efficacy of the health system.
Earlier in his Speech, Governor Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir said his administration as part of efforts to reinvigorate the health care sector has established Bauchi State Health Trust Funds whose mandate among other things was to galvanize local resources to fund the health care sector.
He said the state government deemed it necessary to come up with the summit as his administration had inherited a malfunctioning and highly inefficient health system characterized by huge infrastructural deficit, inadequate human resources among others.
The said the health summit was in fulfilment of his campaign promises of reforming the healthcare service delivery to the people of the state.
“This summit is not intended to be a talk-shop, it is not for the optics either. We want all of you to participate to broaden the scope of your knowledge, widen our horizon regarding the constraints and limitations, the gaps and the empirical practices that will guide us in providing one of the best healthcare services in the country. That is our goal.”
The Governor who rolled out to participants the number of achievements recorded by his administration in the health sector, said its target is to renovate one hospital in all the Local Government Headquarters of the state.
He assured that recommendations from the summit will be taken into consideration especially in the areas of recruitment of health personnel and advancing the sector.
The Governor who said the health summit themed: “Optimizing the health care sector in Bauchi State” was organized to determine the current health care delivery system in Bauchi State with the view to identifying modalities to overcoming the challenges.
The Two-Day Bauchi Health Summit organized in collaboration with Arewa Research and Development Centre houses development partners such as the World Health Organization, UNICEF, Dangote Foundation as well as local and international partners.
