The Federal Government has handed over a consignment of modern reproductive health equipment and essential medical commodities to the Gombe State Government, as part of efforts to strengthen Primary Health Care (PHC) delivery and improve access to quality healthcare across the state.
The official handover ceremony, held on Saturday in Gombe, was presided over by the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, who described the initiative as a critical intervention aimed at supporting state-level healthcare reforms and enhancing service delivery for women, children, and vulnerable populations.
“You have done a lot to expand access to primary healthcare, but as part of the sector-wide approach, the Federal Government is contributing its share to ensure PHCs deliver quality care for women, children, and vulnerable populations,” Prof. Pate stated. “These equipment and commodities are meant for primary healthcare centres across all the local government areas of Gombe State.”
Prof. Pate commended Governor Inuwa Yahaya’s administration for its investments in primary healthcare through the Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency (GSPHCDA) and the state’s contributory health scheme, Go-Health, noting that such initiatives align with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda for the health sector.
He emphasized that the intervention, which begins with Gombe, will be implemented across all 36 states of the federation to strengthen Nigeria’s health system and improve healthcare outcomes nationwide.
“This initiative is being implemented across the 36 states of the federation, but we are beginning with Gombe. Other states will follow, in line with President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda in the health sector,” he said.
Receiving the medical supplies on behalf of the state government, Governor Inuwa Yahaya expressed gratitude to President Tinubu and the Federal Ministry of Health for the gesture, describing it as timely and essential to the realization of Gombe State’s ongoing healthcare transformation agenda.
“Our administration has made healthcare reform a top priority through the revitalization of PHCs, recruitment of health workers, and expansion of health insurance coverage,” the governor said. “This intervention from the Federal Government will further strengthen our health system and complement our efforts to deliver quality care to every community.”
Earlier in his remarks, the State Coordinator of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Mr. Abba Ibrahim Musa, explained that the intervention aims to bolster maternal and child health services, improve access to reproductive healthcare, and equip frontline facilities with modern tools to serve rural populations effectively.
According to him, the equipment provided includes:
- Delivery beds, portable ultrasound machines with foetal dopplers, and baby resuscitation workstations;
- Hospital beds and mattresses, baby cots, suction machines, microscopes, and other laboratory tools;
- Weighing scales, diagnostic sets, blood pressure monitors, and 25 Solar Direct Drive units for vaccine storage.
Additionally, the package includes 60 essential medicines in bundled packs, featuring analgesics, antimicrobials, antimalarials, cough and cold remedies, medicines for preventing postpartum bleeding, treating hypertension, and family planning commodities.
The intervention represents another milestone in Nigeria’s renewed commitment to achieving universal health coverage, with Gombe emerging as a model state for effective healthcare system reforms in the North-East region.
