Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno state, has approved the recruitment of 40 medical doctors of the state origin, who studied medicine from various tertiary institutions within and outside Nigeria.

The Governor disclosed this when he granted audience to the newly graduated medical doctors in Maiduguri.

He said that the recruitment was approved as part of the measures to enhance healthcare delivery in the state.

According to him, accommodation will be provided to those who are willing to serve in the state.

In his speech, the Permanent Secretary, Borno State Ministry of Health, Dr Muhammad Nguluze, assured that the medical practitioners were ready to work in their home state to give back to their people.

He disclosed that some of them were part of students sponsored by Borno State Government to study in Sudan and Egypt.

The Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Is-haq Oloyede, has urged the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), to call off the ongoing industrial action by the university lecturers in the country.

Oloyede, made the call in Ilorin, Kwara State, North Central Nigeria, described the ongoing industrial strike action by ASUU members as unnecessary.

The former vice chancellor of the University of Ilorin, spoke during the presentation of the multi-billion naira medical equipment to the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), for improved healthcare delivery in the facility by JAMB.

JAMB made the donation of the medical equipment in collaboration with a United States based agency, Project Cure.

Oloyede, who said that incessant strike action by unions in the nation’s tertiary institutions was capable of causing irreparable damage on not just the students but also the nation, urged both the government and the unions to find ways of putting an end to the unnecessary strike action.

He  acknowledged the fact that the primary responsibility of reasonable (even if not adequate) funding of public health and education institutions lies on the proprietors-the Government.

Oloyede,  however,  called on the employers, university based labour union, to appreciate the irreparable damage of incessant strikes on not just the students but also the nation.

The JAMB registrar said that the intervention of the agency in the area of healthcare delivery, was to support government’s efforts aimed at addressing the huge medical infrastructural gap in the country.

He added that JAMB would continue to prune down its expenses through prudent management, adoption of relevant cost saving technology and other efficiency strategies to free up resources to support major stakeholders such as the tertiary health and educational institutions in order to uplift the health and educational institutions.

He said that the intervention was for 12 benefiting health facilities in all the six geopolitical zones in the country.

The equipment donated to UITH include angle poise lamp, Ventilator, consumables, Mattress, OG couch, gynaecology chair, treatment table, treadmill machine, crutches, ICU beds, urinary catheters, defibrillator machines, laparoscopy machines, needle and syringes, wheel chairs, Oxygen concentrator, suction machines, endoscopy machines, among others.

A former chairman of  JAMB, Dr. Emmanuel Ndukwe, described the medical intervention as the beginning of the journey towards checking medical tourism in Nigeria.

The Anambra State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Afam Obidike says the Ministry will continue to collaborate with the state’s chapter of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) to improve the health sector of the State.

The Commissioner stated this during an advocacy visit by the PSN at the Jerome Udoji Secretariat Complex, Awka, mentioned that, “Gov. Chukwuma Soludo’s mandate is to establish quality, affordable and accessible healthcare service delivery to Ndi Anambra.”

He informed members of the association that the ministry will train four pharmacists on drug quality assurance which is currently ongoing in the state, and that the state government has commenced the renovation of General Hospitals to meet the best standards, and as well reconstitute the traditional medicine department in the ministry.

The Health Commissioner commended them for their continued support and assured of his ministry’s determination to implement the governor’s healthcare agenda across the state.

The Chairman, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Anambra state chapter, Mr. Josephat Obasi commended the commissioner for his achievements which included the recruitment of health workers and the ground-breaking of the Wholesale Coordinated Centre Oba, within a short period.

Mr. Obasi urged the commissioner to look into the strategic position of pharmacists in reducing mortality rate due to medication and prescription errors in some hospitals in the state.