Dearth of Doctors: Katsina spends N24b to sponsor 41 MBBS students to Egypt

The Katsina State government on Tuesday said it spent the sum of N2.4 billion to sponsor 41 students to study MBBS in Egypt as part of measures to address the dearth of medical doctors in the state.

The deputy governor of the state, Farouk Lawal, who stated this while speaking to newsmen, said the money expended covered the students’ tuition, accommodation, transportation, and other related items.

Lawal said although the state was currently facing challenges in the number of medical doctors and other health personnel, measures have been put in place to address the situation, including the recent recruitment of more than 250 health personnel.

He also said the state government had recently upgraded health facilities, including the expansion of 146 primary healthcare facilities, making them fully functional across the 34 local government areas of the state.

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He said another upgrade of comprehensive health centres was carried out recently in Rimi, Faskari, Danmusa, and Zango council areas at the cost of N3.7 million.

He said the General Amadi Rimi General Hospital in the state metropolitan area was recently upgraded and equipped with modern dialysis machines at the cost of N681 million, making the hospital one of the best in the country.

He said drugs worth more than N3 billion were recently procured from reputable pharmaceutical companies and distributed to healthcare centres across the state as a way to boost availability to patients.

The deputy governor said the state is currently constructing a modern pharmaceutical company at the cost of N1.6 billion, even as he assured the government’s commitment to improving the health sector for the benefit of the citizenry in the state.