The All Progressives Congress Adamawa Central senatorial candidate, Alhaji Mustapha Salihu, has commended President Bola Tinubu for what he described as the best reforms in Nigeria’s health sector since the return to democratic rule in 1999.
Salihu spoke on Monday at the Modibbo Adama University Teaching Hospital, Yola, while handing over dialysis consumables worth more than N100m to the hospital.
He said his decision to donate the consumables was aimed at complementing the efforts of the Tinubu administration to restore the health sector to its former glory.
“My decision to donate these dialysis consumables today to MAUTH is to support the government of President Tinubu. The APC administration is concerned about the good health of Nigerians,” he said.
“The cost of dialysis is expensive, so we members of the APC want to support Nigerians so that they do not die because they cannot afford treatment. Kidney disease is affecting even children, and they are now having kidney problems. So, we have to complement what the present government is doing to revamp the health sector.”
Salihu assured the hospital management that he would continue to support the institution whenever the need arose.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Chief Medical Director of MAUTH, Professor Adamu Bakari, said the Tinubu administration had introduced five major interventions at the hospital, which had significantly reduced the financial burden on patients.
He said the President had established the National Emergency Medical Services, through which victims of snake bites, communal crises, accidents and fire incidents, as well as women and children, could receive treatment free of charge under the relevant interventions.
According to him, treating a snakebite patient could cost a minimum of N250,000 because of the cost of anti-snake venom.
Other interventions, he said, included comprehensive free treatment for children, free surgery for pregnant women during childbirth, and financial assistance for patients to cover transportation costs when returning home after treatment.
Bakari also disclosed that MAUTH had one of the lowest dialysis charges in the country, at N35,000 per session.
“Our dialysis charge is the lowest in the country because of Federal Government intervention and the support of individuals like our brother, Comrade Mustapha Salihu.
“In other hospitals, dialysis costs between N80,000 and N100,000 per session, but here it is N35,000,” he said.
The CMD disclosed that MAUTH currently had six dialysis machines.
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