By KINGSLEY OKOYE

Sokoto State Government, says it has employed 845 Nurses and Midwives to facilitate access to improve quality health care services delivery across the primary health centres in the state.

The Economic Adviser to Sokoto governor, Dr Bashir Achida, said this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday.

Achida said the recruitment became necessary given the need to address medical personnel gap in the state.

He told NAN that the state government was determined to address such health care challenges such as maternal and infant mortality rate and Vesicovaginal fistula (VVF).

?At the moment, I don?t think that there is any state in this country that has employed 845 nurses and midwives in one year for its primary health care centres?, he told NAN.

He said plans had been concluded to also absorb medical doctors graduating from medical institutions in the state and other universities into state health facilities.

According to him, the doctors on interns would also be absorbed by the state government to reduce doctor-patient gap in the state.

He said seven primary health care facilities had been renovated and had been put to use by the state government.

Achida said the governor, Alhaji Ahmad Aliyu, had also conceived plans to build additional 199 other primary health care centres, saying that the government was working to deliver on it.

?We have 23 general hospitals today, but now we have got approval to build more health care facilities in addition to a hospital for VVF health care services.?

He said the governor, as a man of integrity, had hit the ground running with focus on delivering on his campaign promises to the people.

He said the state governor also ensured that the recent local government election was conducted in an atmosphere devoid of rancour.

This, he said, was achieved by not dismantling the statutory structure responsible for conduct of elections in the local government areas set up by the previous administration. (NAN)