The Nasarawa State Government says it will establish a Private Health Institution Management Agency to regulate private healthcare facilities and curb quackery.
Commissioner for Health, Dr Gaza Gwamna, disclosed this on Monday in Lafia during a ministerial briefing organised by the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Dr Ibrahim Tanko.
Gwamna said a bill to establish the agency was before the House of Assembly for consideration, adding that once passed, it would ensure proper monitoring and compliance with international standards.
He noted that quackery was a major cause of complications and deaths in medical facilities, stressing the ministry’s resolve to eliminate it.
The commissioner also said 272 graduates of the State College of Nursing Sciences, Lafia, were offered automatic employment in 2025 to boost manpower, while plans were underway to extend the same gesture to medical graduates, including doctors.
He announced that the governor had approved the upgrade of the Primary Healthcare Centre, Assakio, in Lafia to a General Hospital, and disclosed that the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital in Akwanga would begin operations once the Federal Government assumed responsibility for staff salaries.
Gwamna further revealed that healthcare workers had been deployed to all 147 electoral wards to monitor and report disease outbreaks for quick government response.
On maternal health, he said mortality remained high in Keffi and Nasarawa LGAs due to poor antenatal attendance and negative attitudes of some health workers, urging pregnant women to seek early care.
In his remarks, Tanko said his ministry had created platforms such as ministerial briefings to inform the public about government programmes, and appealed to residents to avoid drug abuse and self-medication.
(NAN)