Patronage of public hospitals has risen in Kwara – Dep. Gov.
Patronage of public hospitals in Kwara state has increased by 35 percent within three months, owing to the priority attention given to healthcare by the state government.
The state Deputy Governor, Mr. Kayode Alabi, said this at the weekend at the closing of free medical and surgical interventions, at the General Hospital, Ilorin.
“We’ll make sure that all our primary health centres are properly run and functioning very well.
“The state government will also equip its hospitals to meet the medical needs of the people. What you have seen here is a direction of where we are going,” he said.
Alabi, who represented Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the event, thanked him for his commitment to the welfare of the people.
500 persons benefitted from the surgical interventions sponsored by the state government, in partnership with the Kwara state Association of Nigeria, North America (KSANG) and Sakinah Medical Outreach.
Alabi said that the state government is determined to securing the services of qualified health personnel to provide quality healthcare services in the state.
Special Adviser to the Governor on Health Matters, Prof. Wale Sulaiman, explained that the just-concluded surgical mission is a follow-up to the medical mission held across the three senatorial districts.
He said that no fewer than 2, 500 patients were attended to by volunteer doctors from Sakinah Medical Outreach.
“The combined medical and surgical mission is one of the key emergency strategies to bring immediate relief to people with common ailments such as diabetes, hypertension, infectious and non-infectious diseases,” he said.
Suleiman commended the governor, management of the hospital, the volunteers and officials of the Ministry of Health for their respective roles in the exercise.
The special adviser, who facilitated the surgical interventions, noted that it has brought immediate relief to patients who would have been waiting for years due to lack of funds to access medical care.
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Director-General of the state Hospitals Management Bureau, Dr. Oladimeji Aluko, commended the government for addressing the immediate healthcare needs of the people, saying that 70 per cent of the beneficiaries were indigent residents.
Aluko said that the Gov. AbdulRazaq-led administration has in the last four months, witnessed between 30 and 35 per cent rise in the number of patients who patronise state-owned hospitals.
He attributed the development to the rising public trust in the government and its interventions like payment of counterpart funds, free malaria treatment and anti-polio vaccination.
