El-Rufai declares free medicare for children under 5 years

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, after been sworn into his second tenure, has announced that children below five years will receive free medical care in public hospitals in the state.

He explained that the initiative was to ensure that children were adequately cared for, well-fed and received all the nutrients they would need within the first six months of their lives.

Speaking on Wednesday at his inauguration ceremony, Gov. El-Rufai also revealed that female civil servants in the state will get six months for maternity leave.

El-Rufai said: “In education and health, we have shown a commitment with investments to expand the access of ordinary people to these public goods,”.

READ ALSO: GOMBE: Governor Yahaya sworn-in, threatens to deal with ‘all illegalities”

“Our commitment to universal health coverage will continue. Therefore, we shall accelerate the implementation of contributory health insurance scheme as a priority of this administration.

“Just yesterday, our state executive council approved six months maternity leave for female public servants. This is to encourage the health development of infants.

“Mothers in our state are also reminded that children up to age five gets free medical care in our hospitals. They are entitled to free regular medical checkups in all public hospitals. Please, take advantage of this.”

On education, the governor revealed that free and compulsory education has been made available for girls in the state.

“We took bold steps to improve the teaching standards. We have made basic education truly free in Kaduna state and we have made education free and compulsory for our girls up to the end of senior secondary school,” he said.

“We’ll continue to fix existing schools and build new classrooms where necessary and support our teachers to deliver decent public education.”

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now