Protest: Tinubu deserves support rather than recrimination – Pate

Dr Ali Pate, Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, has said that the President Bola Tinubu-led administration deserves more support than recrimination from Nigerians.

This is contained in a statement by Mr Dapo Okubanjo, the Head of Media, All Progressives Congress (APC) Professionals Forum, on Sunday in Abuja.

Pate spoke when he received a delegation of the forum led by the Chairman of its Board of Trustees (BOT), Dr Isa Yuguda.

The statement quoted Pate as describing a protest against the Tinubu-led administration as “a protest against the Nigeria’s health sector”.

This, he said, was because the Tinubu administration was systematically cleaning up decades of rot in the sector.

The minister said the administration was doing this through massive rehabilitation and equipping of primary healthcare centres and tertiary health facilities across the country.

“Since assuming office, President Tinubu has been very deliberate in his bid to address decades-long challenges in many sectors of the economy.

“And it would not be right to assume that things will change almost overnight.

“All what he has been doing is to fix the accumulation of our collective failure as Nigerians, so anyone protesting is protesting against Nigeria, not President Tinubu.

“For instance, in the health sector, there is an ongoing rehabilitation and re-equipping of all primary healthcare centres and teaching hospitals with the support of donor agencies,” Pate said.

According to Pate, plans are underway to revive 8,300 primary healthcare centres to make them fully functional, adding that the essence was to expand and upgrade them to 17,000 PHCs in the next three years.

The minister said the initiative is being pushed by the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency in collaboration with state governments.

“In terms of hospital equipment and infrastructure, federal hospitals have successfully executed 201 specific infrastructure projects in the last one year.

“Additionally, 179 specific pieces of important medical equipment were procured by the federal government and distributed across the six geopolitical zones.

“We are witnessing a substantial upgrade in healthcare infrastructure, a testament to the President’s leadership.

“Plans are also underway for the ground breaking ceremony for 10 healthcare infrastructure projects, including diagnostic and oncology centres across the six geopolitical zones,” Pate was quoted as saying in the statement.

This, he said, was part of a broader initiative involving Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), adding that government was also working on a major PPP initiative to expand infrastructure and equip six teaching hospitals.

“We have set up a committee on standards for tertiary healthcare, which has been absent for eight years.

“This committee is tasked with defining the standards for tertiary facilities in line with the National Health Act. The details of these standards are now accessible online.

“The President’s effective promotion of Nigeria as a business-friendly environment has already attracted several international investors and foreign direct investments in the sector.

“Notably is a Brazilian entity which has committed US$240 million to establish a generic manufacturing plant in Nigeria,” Pate added.

The statement also quoted Yuguda as saying that the ongoing transformation in the country’s health sector was a big credit to President Tinubu.