I’m just realising our healthcare system is in terrible state —SGF Mustapha

“I can tell you for sure, I never knew that our entire healthcare infrastructure was in the state in which it is,” Boss Mustapha has said.

Mustapha, who is the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) stated this on Thursday, adding that he only came to know the terrible state of the nation’s health infrastructure after he was appointed the Chairman of Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.

The SGF state’s this when he met with the leadership of the National Assembly on Thursday.

He said, “I can tell you for sure, I never knew that our entire healthcare infrastructure was in the state in which it is. Until I was appointed to do this work.”

According to him, the coronavirus pandemic has afforded an opportunity for the state of the national health care systems, “which is in dire need of reforms and funding” to be examined, Mustapha said.

He added that the poor state of Nigeria’s health systems became more clear given the manner more established health systems in Europe and America collapsed under COVID-19 pressure.

Read also: Nigeria’s Consul General in China confronts Chinese officials over alleged maltreatment of Nigerians (Video)

The SGF, nonetheless, promised that the Muhammadu Buhari administration had plans to lay a legacy foundation for the immediate, medium and long-term development of the health system following the coronavirus pandemic across the country.

In order to achieve the plans, he said the taskforce had resolved to utilise the resources being mobilised in a strategic manner.

This, according to him includes:

“Direct development and delivery of critical infrastructure to states by donors; direct procurement and delivery of personal protective equipment and other critical equipment by donors; deployment of rapid response teams to states for capacity building and support; and expansion of the testing capacity in the country.

He said for transparency and accountability, that the taskforce would not be directly involved in the collection and spending of the cash donations for COVID-19.

He said, “The Accountant General of the Federation has already published the account details for collection through some commercial banks and also provided the modalities for its utilisation. All the main COVID-19 accounts shall be domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria.

“However, all non-cash donations shall be duly received by the PTF, acknowledged, documented and appropriately deployed.”

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