Healthcare: UNICEF rates Gombe highest in Nigeria

The Immunisation Manager, United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Eframe Tafle, has ranked Gov. Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State the highest in the country in terms of quality healthcare delivery.

Tafle stated this in Gombe on Wednesday when he paid a courtesy call on the governor.

He said they have gone round health facilities in some parts of the state and they were very impressed with the way and manner the state government focused its attention on healthcare service.

“Especially in the area of upgrading facilities and staff which led to quality service delivery”, urging the government to do more in that regard, he said.

He said they equally appreciated the commitment of the state Commissioner for Health and his staff who have been up and doing in meeting up the requirements of pregnant women.

“We equally appreciate the Commissioner for Health for meeting the requirements of expectant mothers in the state from the period of conception up to the second year of the child which is referred to as one thousand days and it is very significant in the life of both the mother and her child,” he explained.

He earlier said they were in the state to access the progress made in the area of reproductive health.

He also appealed to the governor to provide additional manpower to fill the existing vacancies across the healthcare facilities.

Responding, Yahaya assured the team of his administration’s readiness to partner with UNICEF for better healthcare service delivery in the state.

He said since his assumption in office, he visited the United Nation with a view to seeking support from all these agencies so that the state would see a facelift in the health sector.

Yahaya said the present administration inherited the NSPHIP programme where UNICEF indirectly supported 10 wards in Lwami Local Government Area by upgrading their healthcare facilities.

“What you witnessed in one of the Primary Health Care facilities you visited, is exactly what the present administration did in all the 114 wards of the state.”

On the 1,000 days initiative, Yahaya said the state would support the health ministry to ensure 100 percent implementation of the project in the state.