Buhari directs increased allocation to UMTH

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday directed the Head of Service of the Federation and the Budget Office to consider an increase in allocation for personnel and overhead in the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH).

Buhari issued the directive at the virtual inauguration of some capital projects executed at UMTH, in response to a specific request by the board and management of the hospital.

According to the president, the increase in allocation for UMTH would facilitate optimisation of services to be provided with the activation of the new projects.

Among the projects opened by the president are a fully equipped 150-bed trauma centre, new general outpatient department, complex for National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), multipurpose auditorium, and conference centre constructed and furnished by Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State.

President Buhari also opened a new hostel for the UMTH School of Nursing constructed by the Federal Government.

He said the value of the projects at the UMTH to the nation’s health care system could not be underestimated, especially in the era of global health system challenges occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.

To Buhari, the completion of the capital projects aptly reflects the Federal Government’s commitment to sustainable development in the North East, and indeed in all parts of the country, to engender economic growth, peace, and progress.

‘’Emerging diseases have made it necessary for all nations to increase and improve resource application for coping with the challenges of adapting to the ‘new normal’. This goes on in Borno State side by side with efforts to tackle insurgency and criminal activities,’’ he said.