Lottery trust fund donates medical equipment to 12 healthcare centers

The National Lottery Trust Fund has donated vital medical equipment to 12 primary healthcare centres selected from six geopolitical zones.

The donated items included digital X-ray machines, colour ultrasound machines, suction machines, kidney discs, hydraulic beds, wheelchairs, blood banks etc.

NLTF Executive Secretary Dr Bello Maigari, who presented the equipment to the beneficiaries on Tuesday in Abuja, said the items would increase access to quality healthcare services across the country.

Maigari said the intervention was made through the proceeds from different lottery programmes, adding that over 30 healthcare projects have also been completed and due for commissioning.

“Our hope is to see projects of this nature in every constituency in the country seeking to save and change lives for the good of all Nigerians”, he stated.

“The goal is to ensure everyday Nigerians living in rural communities have access to modern laboratory and radiology services as a critical first step in receiving decent and quality care,” Maigari said.

“It is alarming that people travel long distances from remote communities to urban areas just to obtain basic laboratory services such as x-rays, blood tests, etc. which often result in patients dying even before receiving proper medical attention.

“For us in the trust fund this is a major concern which needs to be addressed urgently, more so if we are to change the current narrative that our hospitals are not Iust mere consulting clinics.

“Hence this vital and constructive effort by the agency to equip healthcare institutions with basic radiology facilities across the nation.”

Maigari noted that the NLTF was established under Section 35 of the National Lottery Act 2005 to take custody of a certain percentage of all national lottery operations in the country for investments to promote the wellbeing of the nation.

“Promotion of good causes is a social service to the nation which can cater for the sick and the unemployed and uneducated, the talented but undiscovered young sportsmen, the victims of natural and ecological disasters, the refugees and homeless.

“It is, therefore, an agency that can assist the government to promote social stability, poverty eradication, social cohesion and economic welfare,” he added.