Health: Minister tasks commanders on quality

The Minister of Defence, Mansur Muhammad DanAli has asked commanders of military health facilities to ensure quality healthcare delivery to patients.

Dan-Ali gave the charge during the site commanders and team leaders meeting in held recently in Abuja.

He said it was important that they provide innovative strategies that would enhance quality healthcare services for armed forces personnel and civilian population.

The minister said the Nigerian Ministry of Defence Health Implementation Programme Department of Defence Walter Reed Program-Nigeria (MODHIPUSDODWRP-N), has contributed to low the prevalence of HIV among Nigerian military personnel, elimination of malaria through the Presidential Malaria Initiative (PMI) and also the national response to Tuberculosis Control.

He said about 85 per cent of beneficiaries of the programme in the 46 military health facilities all over the country were civilians.

Director-General, Ministry of Defence Health Implementation Programme, Brigadier General Nuruddeen Hussain said the emerging and re-emerging diseases in Nigeria and West Africa, as well as troops’ involvement in regional peace efforts, made it important to build capacity of armed forces health personnel on health promotion and disease prevention.