The federal government has inaugurated the construction of 10 first-class oncology and diagnostic centres to promote equality and enhance access to quality healthcare service delivery in the country.

Muhammad Ali-Pate, the coordinating minister of health and social welfare, stated this on Friday in Bauchi during the groundbreaking of the oncology centre at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University – Teaching Hospital, Bauchi.

Mr Ali-Pate said the centres would be constructed to meet International best standards under MedServe, the wholly owned healthcare company of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA).

He said the gesture was part of the transformative initiatives of President Bola Tinubu’s administration to unlock health sector interventions for quality service delivery.

According to him, Mr Tinubu is investing heavily in the health sector to ensure every Nigerian has access to quality healthcare service delivery.

“Mr President is very clear, he wants to transform this country. He wants to change the direction of this country, and we are fortunate that he picked health as one of those areas.

“In just one year, he has done what has not been done in the history of this country in the health sector.

“He has launched many initiatives and building on what MedServe has done. We are seeing ten major infrastructural projects with groundbreaking happening.

“In 12 months, we will start opening them all across Nigeria.

“There are 6,000 centres that NSIA-MedServe is doing, and I think the money is available and those too would be completed within 12 to 18 months; they will be opened,” he said.

According to Ali-Pate, the federal government is retraining 120,000 frontline health workers, adding that 10,000 of them had been retrained across the country, including Bauchi.

Wale Edun, the minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, commended the NSIA-MedServe for the effective utilisation of funds towards transforming healthcare service delivery in the country.

He said the construction of the new oncology and diagnostic centres would ensure the delivery of quality healthcare services and encourage medical tourism in Bauchi state.

According to him, the initiative will grow the economy, create jobs and reduce poverty in the country.

The state governor, Bala Mohammed, said that his administration has earmarked over N25 billion to upgrade the Specialist Hospital Bauchi to augment the operation of the ATBU-TH.

Mr Mohammed said the state government has also allocated the General Hospital, Misau, to fast-track the establishment of the Federal Teaching Hospital project.

While pledging support to the federal government’s policies and programmes, Mr Mohammed lauded Mr Tinubu for the execution of viable healthcare infrastructure development projects in the state.

Also speaking, Dr Tolulope Adewole, managing director, MedServe, said that between 2020 and today, Medserve had attended to 131,000 patients in NSIA Kano diagnostic centre with evidential testimonies.

He explained that close to 700,000 individual tests had been done between the laboratories and imaging, adding that the same gesture had been extended to Umuahia, Abia, and over 10,000 patients treated in Lagos.

“MedServe is primarily committed to the socio-economic upliftment of Nigerians, hence the focus on expanding access to high-quality medicare through medical infrastructure investment, capacity enhancement for key medical personnel and strategic partnerships with key stakeholders in the oncology value chain.

“As we hope to inaugurate this one in Bauchi, in another 12 to 15 months, this project’s doors will never be closed, and the patients of Bauchi will join that number and have a testimonial of what is going to happen.

“We have just three things that we do: equity, access and quality, and our goal is to demonstrate equitable access.

“All lives are equal and the same quality service you get in other places would be gotten here.

MedServe’s healthcare expansion programme follows the success of the three demonstration projects, including the NSIA-LUTH Cancer Centre (NLCC), NSIA-Kano Diagnostic Centre (NKDC) and the NSIA-Umuahia Diagnostic Centre (NUDC), respectively.

The phased expansion programme will significantly optimise oncology and diagnostic care in Nigeria by the establishment of 23 diagnostic centres, three additional oncology centres and seven catheterization laboratories co-located within federal tertiary institutions across the six geo-political zones.

The new oncology and diagnostic centres are projected to serve approximately 5,000 and 350,000 patients, respectively, significantly reducing the burden of cancer and improving preventive care through diagnostics.

The intervention will further unlock access to world-class oncology care, reduce cancer-related death, significantly support the retention of foreign exchange that would otherwise have been deployed for health care and improve preventive care through proactive diagnosis.

It also seeks to offer specialised treatments and cutting-edge technology at par with international standards to encourage Nigerians to seek high-quality care within the country.

(NAN)