The governor of Kaduna State, Uba Sani, has commissioned five state-of-the-art-mobile diagnostic trucks purchased by the government for hard-to-reach communities for better healthcare service delivery.
Sani, represented by the deputy governor, Dr. Hadiza Balarabe, at the event held yesterday, said that the mobile trucks are fully fitted with medical diagnostic equipment to render integrated health services in hard-to-reach and underserved communities across Kaduna state.
He said the commissioning, which is part of the activities marking 100 days of Gov. Sani in office, was done at Abakpa Health Clinic in Kaduna North Local Government area (LGA).
He said that the gesture will also boost healthcare services and enhance the well-being and survival of the people.
“This mobile truck is intended to close a geographic access gap to healthcare services and will be for screening, medical diagnosis of ailments to be brought to the door steps of the citizens of Kaduna state”, he said.
According to him, “Our administration is committed to taking all necessary steps to make significant progress toward achieving universal health coverage.
He further explained that the administration’s vision is to build and strengthen healthcare facilities that are adequately equipped, well-staffed with comprehensive accessible and affordable health service that is oriented to deliver decent healthcare standard.
“We took an innovative approach to procure state-of-the-art trucks to facilitate the integration of quality services in hard-to-reach and underserved communities.
“This mobile unit will offer a range of services, including maternal newborn intervention, radiology services and laboratory diagnosis of ailments such as malaria, HIV, Hepatitis B, C, tuberculosis and many more,” he said.
He said it will serve as a vital tool to ongoing disease surveillance initiative while strengthening basic clinical services referrals and linkages through a continuum of care.
Gov. Sani added that the trucks will provide a platform for regular advocacy, social and community mobilization activities.
He emphasised the administration’s firm belief that the initiative will result in substantial improvement in health indicators and position the state among the top sub-national governments striving to achieve universal health coverage and the sustainable development goal.
Earlier in her welcome address, the state Commissioner for Health, Hajiya Umma Ahmed, said the trucks will be providing free screening of HIV, Tuberculosis and other related diseases.
She said the state government is committed to healthcare service delivery by providing clear policy direction.
The commissioner also called on residents to avail themselves of the screening exercise, adding that health or disease knows no boundaries.
