Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno state has inaugurated two oxygen plants with 23 solar-powered refrigerators.
The oxygen supply project will directly benefit about 7.1 million people, including children and women in 26 Councils of the state.
Inaugurating the twin plants, yesterday (Thursday), in Maiduguri, the state capital, Zulum, represented by his Deputy, Usman Kadafur, disclosed that; the oxygen plants with solar-powered refrigerators will strengthen healthcare delivery system in the conflict areas of Borno.
“We’ll continue to accord priority to the development and sustenance of healthcare infrastructural facilities to save more life,” he said.
Unfolding the importance of oxygen, the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) Project Supervisor, Atinuke Fakunle, said that it will strengthen healthcare provision and build resilience of health systems in conflict and hard to reach communities.
Besides, she added: “This will enable primary healthcare facilities to provide acceptable standards of medical care in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.”
She noted that the activities will seek to address the increasing vulnerability and mortality due to COVID-19, compounded by the insurgency in Borno.
According to her, the oxygen plants in Maiduguri and Biu, will expand vaccine storage capacity of health centres to increase child health and management of diseases affecting children under five.
On the importance of oxygen supplies, she reiterated that the twin plants in Maiduguri and Biu, will increase production of oxygen in the state in treating acute respiratory complications.
She added that it will also scale up the vaccination coverage with an efficient vaccine storage and cooling system.
The Ambassador of Japan to Nigeria, Matsunaga Kazuyoshi, disclosed that the oxygen supply project could prioritize universal health coverage in the northeast, affected by over a decade of conflict.
He added that the twin plants will also improve and sustain healthcare delivery services to the people in Borno state.
He, therefore, called on the international community to invest in the state’s health sector to save more lives in hospitals.
Responding, the Chief Medical Director, State’s Specialists Hospital, Dr. Laraba Bello, the supply and distribution of oxygen is one of the management components, as doctors cannot perform surgeries on patients without regular supply of oxygen to various hospitals.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Mohammed Ghuluze, lamented that only 40% of patients in the country has access to oxygen in the various hospitals and clinics.
He, therefore called on hospital authorities to maintain and sustain the oxygen plants, sited in the central and south part of the state.
