Wike intensifies grassroots healthcare service delivery with free medical outreach

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has reiterated the government’s commitment to quality healthcare service delivery to the residents of the Territory.

He said in addition to boosting the over 360 primary healthcare centres and other healthcare facilities in the Territory with the required infrastructure and personnel, affordable and accessible healthcare.

Wike gave the assurance on Wednesday during a free medical outreach held in Kuje Area Council where over 4,000 residents received free medical services, including eye screening and free glasses, antenatal clinic, sickle cell screening, free HIV screening and counseling, and dental care.

General medical checkups, blood testing, and minor surgeries were also carried out for the attendees of the outreach.

Wike, represented by the Mandate Secretary for Health Services and Environment Secretariat, Adedolapo Fasawe, explained that the Renewed Hope medical outreach demonstrates President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to Nigeria’s health security. 

He emphasised that President Tinubu tasked the FCT minister with addressing the health needs of residents, as a healthy population is essential to driving the Renewed Hope Agenda and reaping the benefits of democracy.

He said: “We always say health is wealth and the difference between this medical outreach and all other outreaches is that we say health is not only the absence of disease; health is the total well-being of a person, of a society, especially the women and children.

“We are looking at the social determinants of health, physical determinants of health, and total well-being overall, including your mental health.

“How did this come about? The President, Bola Tinubu, through the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, gave us a mandate that health care must be accessible, affordable, available, and within reach of every citizen of the country. We in the FCT have taken that mandate very seriously. People say Wike is working.

“Wike is not only working on projects; he is also working on the systems. Our mandate really is to reduce the number of women who die due to pregnancy or childbirth complications. This is called maternal mortality.

“The number we have is quite alarming right now and we decided to check what is causing this. We have the hospitals, we have the nurses, we have the doctors, we have skilled birth attendants.