The Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Gusau, has received medical equipment valued at nearly ₦300 million from the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) to further strengthen healthcare delivery in the institution.

The contract for the supply of the equipment was awarded to Connaught International Services Ltd and duly signed by the Head of the Procurement Unit of the Agency, Mr. Ayodeji John. 

The supplied equipment covers several critical areas of the hospital, including the Labour Room, Theatre, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), and Maternity Unit Side Laboratory, explained Mr Shehu Ibrahim Kwaifa, representative of the agency while handing over the equipment to FMC Gusau recently.

In the Labour Room, the hospital received items such as delivery beds, suction machines, foetal monitors, foetal Taco-cardiographs, and both manual and electronic blood pressure apparatus. For the Theatre, equipment delivered includes LED theatre lights, operating tables, suction machines, diathermy machine, anaesthesia machine, and multi-parameter patient monitors, among others.

Similarly, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit was equipped with incubators, neonatal monitors, ventilators, oxygen cylinders and concentrators, delivery systems, and phototherapy lamps.

For the Maternity Side Laboratory, the new additions include automated haematology analyser, microscopes, blood grouping and cross-matching kits, haemoglobin meter, automated biochemistry analyser, spectrophotometer, glucometer, urinalysis analyser, blood refrigerators, and a freezer.

Other significant supplies include 250 biohazard waste disposal bags, 500 blood collection tubes and needles, 250 sharps disposal boxes, and 50 thermometers, among many others.

The Medical Director of FMC Gusau, Dr. Bello A. Mohammed, expressed profound gratitude to the NPHCDA for the intervention. He commended the agency’s commitment to strengthening tertiary healthcare facilities and assured that the equipment will be fully and appropriately utilized to improve patient care.

“This support comes at a crucial time when our Centre is experiencing an upsurge in patient attendance due to insecurity in the region. We are deeply grateful to NPHCDA and appeal to other relevant agencies to emulate this gesture,” Dr. Mohammed stated.

Also speaking, the Head of Clinical Services and Training, Dr. Umar Abdullahi, attributed attracting this intervention to the proactive leadership of Dr. Mohammed, whose dedication has attracted several developmental projects to the Centre.

According to Dr. Abdullahi, within just five years under Dr. Mohammed’s leadership, FMC Gusau has witnessed remarkable transformations — including the completion and equipping of Paediatric Surgical Ward, House Officers’ Quarters (Phases I & II), Health Information Management Unit, Psychiatric Department, NHIA Unit, Molecular Laboratory, Community Medicine Department, and a modern Works Unit. 

Dr. Abdullahi emphasized that the recent equipment delivery is a continuation of the Centre’s steady progress toward excellence in healthcare delivery and training especially now that the Centre moves toward becoming a teaching hospital.

It should be noted that other key achievements under the leadership of Dr Mohammed include the introduction of Electronic Medical Records (EMR), acquisition of a state-of-the-art ambulance, steady staff recruitment, improved power supply through the provision of three new generators, installation of a clinical oxygen pipeline across the hospital and the commissioning of the 250-capacity Dr. Anka Mohammed Kabir Auditorium and a new ring road and drainage system in the hospital.

Naziru A. Tukur (PhD), PRO, FMC Gusau