Nasarawa State government says the N1 billion accessed from the Federal Government Saving One Million Lives Programme would be used to upgrade all the 61 Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCCs) across the state.
Accordingly, aside upgrading the PHCCs, the state government was going to upgrade and equip nine General Hospitals and part of Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital (DASH) to a standard, where Nasarawa State would be a reference point in terms of health care delivery.
Speaking during the opening of the bidding on Monday in Lafia, Ahmed Yahaya, Nasarawa State Commissioner of Health, said the process was in line with the relevant laws to ensure due process in the award of contracts.
Yahaya said that the contracts was part of the ‘Saving one million lives’ programmes introduced by the Federal Government in 2015.
The Commissioner promised to provide a level playing field for all the bidders to participate and ensure that due process was strictly adhered to.
The Commissioner explained that the contracts would cover for the upgrade of 61 Primary Healthcare Centers (PHCs), nine General Hospitals and part of the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital (DASH) Lafia.
He further noted that apart from the upgrade, they would also provide the needed equipment to all the facilities to be upgraded.
The Commissioner the award of the contracts was in fulfilment of the promises Governor Abdullahi Sule made to them during electioneering campaign and promised that more would still be done to better their lives.
Earlier, Ishaku Abari, the permanent secretary of the ministry, said the funds for the contracts was part of the money the ministry recently accessed from the Federal Government saving one million lives programme.
“We will use the N1 billion the state accessed from Federal government to implement projects in order to actualize the objectives of providing quality healthcare delivery in the state,” he said.
He said it would be no more be business as usual for contractors in the habit of collecting money and not doing the job as the ministry would deal with anyone found culpable.
He therefore assured the public that health facilities in the state would be upgraded in order to meet their health needs.
