MDGs to provide free medical service in Plateau

MDGs to provide free medical service in Plateau

Sunday, June 1, 2014 12:05 pm


Jos – Mr Peter Gai, Coordinator, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Plateau, said the goals would soon begin free medical service at the grassroots across the state.

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos on Sunday, Gai said the service would provide diagnoses and treatments for various diseases.

He, however, said that the exercise would be done in some selected health centres in the three senatorial districts of the state.

Gai said the exercise was an effort at meeting some key goals of the MDGs, insisting that only patients at the grassroots would benefit from the free medical service.

“It will involve a holistic medical examination, treatment of different ailments and administration of drugs.

“Those ailments that are beyond the medical team on the field would be referred to hospitals for proper treatment,’’ he said.

According to him, the exercise, being anchored by the Plateau Project Support Unit of the MDGs, will precede the inauguration of 97 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) constructed across the state by MDGs.

The coordinator stated that the PHCs were situated in very rural communities to bring healthcare closer to the rural people.

“We are partnering with some NGOs to give us kits for HIV tests so that we can conduct HIV counselling and testing during the free medical service.

“We will also distribute treated mosquito nets to the residents of the communities we are reaching during the exercise,’’ he said.

The coordinator said that the MDGs had complemented government efforts by constructing PHCs and providing needed facilities to make them functional.

“We have provided drugs and provided solar panels for energy in various PHCs at the grassroots,’’ he said.

Gai observed further that medical equipment were recently distributed to some PHCs across the state as part of the Federal Government and Plateau Government 2012 Conditional Grant Scheme.

According to him, the free medical service is an opportunity to test-run the medical equipment in some of the PHCs.

– NAN


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