Gombe – The Gombe State Government says it spent N112 million to procure six dialysis machines.
The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Kennedy Ishaya, disclosed this in Gombe on Tuesday during the state Executive Council (EXCO) briefing.
According to him, the amount is only for the machines without the installation.
He said each of the machine cost N28 million and that four out of six have been received.
“Four of the machines are on ground; we are waiting for the remaining two before installation.”
The commissioner explained that a machine each would be allocated to HIV/Aids patients, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C, while the remaining three would be used for patients with other ailments.
Ishaya recalled that the state government had donated four dialysis machines to the Federal Teaching Hospital (FTH), Gombe, in early 2014.
“The machines donated to FTH, together with the installation, maintenance for one year and two chairs, gulped N120 million.
“The decision to procure the machines for FTH Gombe is informed by the challenge Gombe is facing in terms of problem of acute and chronic renal failure,” he said.
The commissioner said that nurses interested in becoming dialysis managers would be sent to Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, to study the course.
He further said the state’s health major challenge was manpower, adding that there were only 177 nurses working across the 22 hospitals in the state in 2012, including military and police clinics.
He attributed the problem to lack of accreditation of courses in the state’s School of Nursing and Midwifery.
“But now we have met the accreditation requirements, the school is well accredited and so far in three years we have graduated 400 nurses and midwives.
“In line with this, we are also working for the accreditation of School of Health Technology, Kaltungo,” he said.