President Muhammadu Buhari has inaugurated the Air Force Reference hospital in Daura, Katsina State.

Buhari during the commissioning assured of his support and commitment in ensuring the hospital becomes fully functional and accessible to all Nigerians.

He believed that the commissioning of this hospital is another critical milestone recorded by the nation’s armed forces.

According to the President, the medical facilities deployed to the hospital are enough to cater not only Daura people but also those coming from the neighboring Kano, Kaduna, Abuja and even overseas for medical attention.

He said the Federal Government had in the last four years invested huge resources in the health sector and increased budgetary allocation to the sector from 259 billion naira in 2015 to over 340 billion naira in 2018.

“Accordingly, significant stride has been made to life expectancy and reduced some of the killer diseases associated with child and maternal mortality claiming 70 death per 100,000 and 90 persons by the year 2007 as explained in the United Nations sustainable development goals.

“Despite this, more efforts are needed to fill in the wide range of diseases and remain persistent in the emerging health issues in our society.

“To achieve this, we must now reveal effort to focus on providing more efficient funding on the health sector”.

The President called on more funding in the health sector to improve sanitation and hygiene, increase access to medical care in rural areas in order to save the lives of millions of Nigerians.

Buhari said efforts by government would be redoubled to improve health facilities, equipment and services in the country, listing people living in rural areas as top on priority for better health services.

He also revealed that significant strides had been made to life expectancy and reduced some of the killer diseases associated with child and maternal mortality to less than 70 deaths per 100, 000 live births by the year 2030, as planned in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Buhari said dependence on foreign countries for medical treatment could be reduced by turning around the health sector in the country, noting that health services in the rural areas deserved more attention.

“To achieve this, we must now redouble efforts to focus on providing more efficient funding of the health sector, improve sanitation and hygiene, and increase access to medical care in the rural areas in order to save lives of millions of Nigerians.

“There is therefore no more auspicious time to commission this Reference Hospital than now,’’ he added.

The President commended the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar for situating the Reference Hospital, with state-of-art medical equipment for radio-diagnosis, cancer screening, dialysis, laboratory diagnosis and research, in Daura to serve the aligning states and communities.

“This hospital will minimise the need for people in these areas to travel to Kano, Kaduna, Abuja or even overseas to receive medical treatment.

“I urge you to maintain the highest standard and quality of services the military is known for in attending to patients and the host community. Maintenance is central to efficiency and satisfactory service delivery,’’ the President said.

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence, Nuratu Batagarawa, said the project was conceived and implemented with personnel of the military and the community in mind to provide quality health services.

In his remarks, the Chief of Air Staff said the 60 bed capacity hospital had a total of nine medical consultants, as well as 61 general medical practitioners and dentists.

“These developments have significantly enhanced the capacity of the medical services branch to provide quality healthcare to our personnel,’’ he said.

The Chief of Air Staff also noted that the hospital had ultra-modern operating theatres, an intensive care unit, medical laboratory, eye and dental clinics and a physiotherapy department.