By Haruna Gimba
The Federal Government has pledged to provide free healthcare services to 100 million Nigerians in the next two years.
Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, stated this in an interview with Osasu Igbinedion on ‘The Osasu Show’ aired on ITV and Ben TV in Abuja.
Professor Adewole said his ministry will make sure Nigerians, irrespective of where they live, have access to health care services.
“We have done a lot of work and we intend to revitalise primary care services across the country, we will operate a universal coverage adopting the universally accepted concept of one primary healthcare centre per political ward and that entails,” he said.
The minister added that in addition to the free healthcare services, as a proof of concept, his ministry would deliver 110 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in the next three months.
He said: “One of the things we want to do under the revitalised PHC programme is that each of these revitalised, reinvigorated PHCs will have an industrial borehole. So that we can offer clean drinkable
water to the people and there will be solar electricity so we can have the ability to keep our vaccines in safe conditions.
Professor Adewole added that the ministry will use the new
reinvigorated primary healthcare centres for the focus of community
development nationwide.
“We expect that people will come there to fetch water; farmers will come there to draw water and cattle rearers will also come to fetch water for their animals and by so doing we will promote a new concept of community development across the country,” he explained.
