The Federal government has embarked on upgrading Federal Medical Centre Keffi in Nasarawa state , to Teaching Hospital.
The Minister of Health, Dr. Osage Ehanire made this known Friday at the Senate during Public hearing on a bill seeking for the Establishment of Federal University of Lafia Teaching Hospital.
“The Federal Ministry of Health is already working on a proposal on upgrading of Federal Medical Centres to Teaching Hospitals , one of which is the one in Keffi , Nasarawa State “, he said .
Emphasising on the need for the teaching hospital while fielding questions from journalists at the sideline of the public hearing, Senator Tanko Al- Makura ( APC Nasarawa South), said the people of Lafia and its environs , live in Danger without establishment of Teaching Hospitals in the town .
He lamented that it is not proper for people of Lafia to travel for 200km before they can access Tertiary Health Centers, a situation which he alleged , is causing avoidable deaths of people in need of such health care services.
“If you look at the location of Lafia in Nasarawa state, you will see that people within Lafia will travel up to 200Km before they can access Tertiary or referral health service and that is not acceptable in the 21st century”, he lamented .
He added that the tertiary health care Institution is needed in the Lafia axis and Nasarawa State as a whole in view of the prevailing population explosion .
” if you look at the population explosion within the vicinity of Lafia at the moment , the population of Nasarawa state is about 4 to 5 million half of which are the people from the Federal Capital Territory ( FCT, Abuja ) , resident in neighbouring towns “, he explained.
At the end of the public hearing , the Chairman of the Senate Commitee on Health , Senator Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe ( APC Kwara Central), told the various stakeholders that aggregate of views expressed , will reflect in the final report that will be submitted to the Senate soon .
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