The Japanese Government has handed over a 15-bed capacity clinic, fully equipped with solar powered panels to Shere community in Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja to strengthen healthcare system in the community.
Mr Sadanobu Kusaoke, Ambassador of Japan to Nigeria, while inaugurating the facility on Thursday in Abuja, said the project was designed to provide appropriate and reliable healthcare services to the community.
Kusaoke said that before the completion of the project, the only primary healthcare facility in Shere Koro was in a deplorable condition with just a nurse, in spite the large population of the community.
“We are handing over new primary healthcare centre, with medical apparatus, solar panels and borehole to this community to strengthen healthcare service in the area,” Kusaoke announced.
The envoy said promoting health systems for quality of life was one of the priorities of the Japanese government in Africa.
According to him, 158 projects worth $10,928,041 were implemented in Nigeria since 1998 under the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Project.
He said that the Embassy had also expended $90,530 for the construction of Shere Koro Primary Health Care, implemented by Citizens Health Education and Development Initiative (CHEDI), a Non-Governmental Organisation in Nigeria.
Mrs Selina Enyioha, Chief Executive Officer at CHEDI, the NGO had made the difference in the life of Shere-Koro community and its environs through the funding from Japanese Government to Nigeria.
Enyiola explained that before the intervention, women in the community found it difficult to deliver their babies, adding that some women had their children in an unhygienic environment.
She said that the NGO had collaborated with FCT Primary Healthcare Board and Bwari Area council to ensure that skilled healthcare workers were deployed to the facility.
Earlier, Prof. Isaac Adewole, Minister of Health had said that the facility would be part of the 10,000 Primary Health Centres that would be fully revitalised under the PHC revitalisation agenda of the Federal Government.
The Minister, was represented by Dr Akin Oyemakinde, the Director of Health Planning Research and Statistics in the Ministry.
Adewole stated that the facility would address some of the health needs of the community.
The Minister reiterated the commitment of the Nigerian government to reposition the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) for optimal performance.
He also said that the National Health Insurance Scheme was being repositioned to ensure more enrollment. (NAN)