Taraba State governor, Agbu Kefas has procured 168 Pentacyclic ambulances (Keke Ambulances) aimed at bringing succour to the health challenges faced by the people at the grassroots across the 168 wards of the state.
LEADERSHIP had on May 24, 2024, reported that, “A group supporting women on maternal health in Taraba State (Mama2mam) pleaded with the state government to support its activities to reduce maternal rate and improve child immunisation in the state.
One of the requests made by Mama2Mama was that the governor should help the group with Pentacyclic Ambulances as a means of transportation to convey pregnant women to health centres and financial allowances.
Governor Kefas after the report acquired the tricycles and ordered for immediate delivery to various wards, the well equipped with medical facilities to be manned by skilled health workers.
The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Bordiya Buma while speaking with LEADERSHIP, said the aim for procuring the tricycles was to reduce unnecessary delay of transportation of the sick persons to the nearest Primary Health Centres established at the local levels by the state government across the sixteen local government areas of the state.
“This is to reduce unnecessary delay in the transportation of the sick from the community to the Primary Health Care Centers (PHCC) and from PHCC to the General or First Referral Hospital in case of medical emergency.
“This is just one of the major transformations in the health sector in one year of this administration. Some of these giant strides in the health sector include the ongoing construction of the College of Nursing and Midwifery, Jalingo; construction of General Hospital, Lissam; upgrading of General Hospital, Bali to Specialist Hospital; procurement of essential drugs and laboratory consumables, support for control of disease outbreaks (like Lassa Fever, Cholera, Diphtheria, etc.); and the donation of the Rehabilitation Centre in the State Specialist Hospital, Jalingo, to the National Orthopedics Hospital, Jalingo, to be used as a temporary site, just to mention a few.”
The Commissioner attributed most cases of mortality to delays in accessing quality healthcare as a result of poor road network, and lack of money to access transportation in the state, stating that it is because most people are living below the poverty level.
“Sometimes, even where there is transportation, patients are conveyed by unskilled personnel for treatment, which can complicate their health or even lead to death before reaching the health facility,” Buma stated.
Our correspondent reports that 46 units of the Pentacyclic were used to flag off the distribution to the wards by the state’s Deputy Governor, Alhaji Aminu Alkari who represented the governor at the occasion in Jalingo, the state capital.
