Zulum To Build 100 Houses For Health Workers
Borno State Governor Babagana Umara Zulum on wednesday approved the construction of 100 houses in Monguno to address the housing deficit for healthcare workers in the area.
The governor made the announcement during the commissioning of eye and dental hospitals, and a nursing college at Monguno in the northern part of the state.
He also approved the release of N3 billion for the construction of a specialist hospital in the town which has returned to nomalcy after heavy destruction by Boko Haram terrorists.
“I want to assure you that beneficial accommodation will soon be provided to all the staff so they can live comfortably.”
He however said in the interim, will rent befitting accommodation for the health workers pending the completion of the housing project.
“The commissioner for local Government, and the chairman of Monguno local government should put their heads together and identify some edifice within the town so that the Borno state government will take over the edifice on a rental basis pending the completion of the new housing estate for these doctors.
“The Commissioner for the Local Government also has to identify a site for constructing nothing fewer than one hundred housing units here in Monguno.
“The personnel working in Monguno, especially the medical personnel and teachers living in Monguno, shall be given befitting accommodation. And in sha Allah we shall flag up this project very soon,” he added.
On the specialist hospital project, Zulum said it will serve as a referral centre for the 10 local government areas in northern Borno, when completed.
“The project will cost the Borno state government about three billion naira. The construction only, without equipping it.
“This project will soon start in Monguno town, and it will be fully equipped with state-of-the-art facilities like MRI, CT scan and others that are available in the metropolitan council so that the ten local areas of northern Borno need not go to Maiduguri for their medical means in sha Allah.
“With the take off of the specialist hospital, we will introduce a residency training for medical doctors here in Monguno. So that, the major problem that we are facing in this region of the state, which is the gap in human resources, can be reduced to the barest minimum.”
The Syndicate reports that the governor had while commissioning the three landmark projects, said they were intended to bridge existing gaps in access to healthcare services in the area.
He particularly said that the nursing college will address workforce shortages in the healthcare facilities in rural areas of northern Borno.
“Human resources for health are a key ingredient that will ensure the provision of quality healthcare in Borno State,” he emphasised.
“Therefore, this nursing college will train our younger ones in nursing, midwifery, and allied health courses so that they can fill the gap in our manpower requirements not only in this region but also in other parts of the state.”
He explained that the eye hospital, equipped with modern diagnostic and surgical tools, will provide sight-saving treatments and surgeries locally, eliminating the incidence of eye conditions like cataracts, glaucoma and trachoma, which can lead to preventable blindness if left untreated.
Zulum said the dental hospital on the other hand, will offer services from basic check-ups and fillings to more complex procedures, thereby addressing a long-neglected aspect of healthcare in the area.
The governor announced free eye surgery for 5,000 less privileged people in northern Borno at the new Monguno eye hospital.
