The Kwara State Government has said the Kwara State Government didn’t beg the association for drugs.
The state government had in a letter obtained by this medium requested for drugs to carry out medical outreach in commemoration of AbdulRazaq’s administration second years in office from PSN.
The letter however generated heated controversy on social media.
Clarifying its position, the Kwara State Ministry of Health in a statement signed by the commissioner, Dr. Raji Razaq said its pharmacy unit requested that their parent body, Pharmaceuticals Society of Nigeria, be involved in a proposed medical outreach aimed at providing services to indigent members of our community who needed specialist services but cannot afford the cost of care.
The ministry pointed out that Collaboration, Partnership and Community Participation are key component of community interventions which are acceptable globally and inherent component of the Sustainable Development Goals, SDG-17, of the United Nations.
The statement continued, “It must be stated that the administration of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has constantly released funds for all phases of the health interventions. For instance, the Governor has graciously approved the sums of N13m for the current outreach which is targeted at giving free healthcare/surgeries to poor and vulnerable members of society. In other words, the administration has fully provided for the outreach, including the required drugs.
“Even so, we felt it is an opportunity to further open our doors to organisations that have shown willingness to partner with us like the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Nigerian Medical Association, Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria, Association of Medical laboratory scientists of Nigeria and many others that represent the full complements of our health workforce to come on board to offer what each of them has in stock. That way, as many indigents as may require such free services can benefit.
“Medical and surgical outreaches are organised as periodic interventional activities to deliver specific services to target population. Kwara State does that. In addition, this administration has put in place various social safety nets towards addressing challenges of the people, including the State-owned Insurance Agency that runs a wide range of people-oriented scheme that caters for people in the formal and informal sectors, and the indigents. Counterpart funds are being paid to sustain the state’s benefit package in the Basic Health Care Provision Fund through the Primary Health Care and Health insurance gateways.
“It is therefore needless for anybody or groups of persons to make attempts at misrepresenting our well-intended motive at addressing identified health challenges to desiring members of the public whose lives are being touched by the various health interventions of government in collaboration with reputable organisations and partners in health care service delivery.”