MTN, Gombe Govt partner on health coverage
Mobile Telephone Network (MTN) in collaboration with Gombe State Government has inaugurated a mobile health clinic to widen health service coverage in the state.
Gov. Inuwa Yahaya, who inaugurated the clinic on Monday in Gombe, said the health sector was one of the sectors that were highly challenged in terms of meeting the demands of the people.
Yahaya said that any intervention in the sector was welcomed by his administration in view of the need to improve the wellbeing of people of the state.
“We are pursuing the need for us to deliver quality health care to our people and this initiative is worth appreciating,’’ he said.
He thanked MTN for the collaboration and assured the mobile network provider of his administration’s support to enable it reach out to the people.
The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Habu Dahiru, noted that the mobile clinic would enable rural dwellers and semi-urban communities to access primary healthcare services.
Dahiru said that this would be achieved through the deployment of a fully equipped medical clinic truck with requisite medical staff to selected communities on their market days.
He said the initiative would also provide healthcare to traders who may be ill, without interfering with their economic activities.
The Commissioner said the intervention include free consultations, screening for chronic non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, screenings for Hepatitis B, Malaria and HIV among others.
“Free drugs will be dispensed to deserving patients while counseling and referral services will be available for those that will need further care,” he said.
According to him, the programme which is expected to cover the 11 local government areas of the state will last for one year.
Mr Harrison Thliza, MTN’s Senior Lead Sales and Trade Development, Gombe State Chapter, said the initiative was to help provide solution to some of the society’s biggest problems.
“This mobile medical outreach will focus on the treatment of diarrhoea, malaria, respiratory tract infections, screening for diabetes, HIV, hepatitis and general consultation services.
Thliza added that COVID-19 vaccination had been included as one of the activities to be implemented during the medical outreach.
