Plateau State Commissioner for Health, Dr Cletus Shurkuk, has said the state government commenced the renovation and equipping of more than 300 Primary Health Centres in the state for quality healthcare delivery.

Mr Shurkuk, who disclosed this during an interview on Sunday in Jos, said the government was also renovating 17 general and cottage hospitals.

The commissioner said the current administration was poised to ensure that its citizens, especially those at the grass-roots, had access to qualitative healthcare services.

“The Governor Caleb Mutfwang-led administration is very keen on the health of its citizenry. Hence, we have put very stringent measures on ground to tackle lapses in all healthcare facilities in the state, from infrastructures, equipment to human resources,” he said.

Mr Shurkuk, further said the state government, who had made the health sector one of its priorities, was going into partnership with the Jos University Teaching Hospital.

He said the partnership would enable the general hospitals to get specialists from JUTH on specific days to cater for patients.

He said this would also reduce the rate at which rural dwellers travelled to the city in search of specialists that the general and cottage hospitals lacked.

The commissioner said the government also approved the employment of more consultants and other healthcare workers to boost the availability of skilled manpower in the renovated and equipped PHCs and general hospitals.

According to him, the government has set in motion machinery to ensure that healthcare providing facilities in the state are regulated, and operating according to the required standards.

He said the government had also strengthened the inspectorate unit of the ministry saddled with the responsibility of regulating facilities offering healthcare services in the state, to ensure it carried out its operations effectively.

Mr Shurkuk said to rid the state of quacks and sharp medical practices, the unit also apprehended operators of some facilities involved in shady practices in the state.

The current administration on assumption of office increased the salaries of doctors and other healthcare workers.

They currently earn 90 per cent of the 2019 Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESSS), and their hazard allowance was also increased by 75 per cent.

(NAN)