Kaduna State gov­ernment yesterday unveiled its new pri­mary healthcare law.

Addressing the second Kaduna State Healthcare Partners’ Summit, Gov­ernor Nasir el-Rufai com­mended the state’s House of Assembly for the speedy passage of the law.

According to the gover­nor, the new law would per­mit the state to organise its primary healthcare activi­ties under one roof, adding that implementation of the law would transfer work­ers in primary healthcare centres from local govern­ments to the state’s civil service.

El-Rufai said: “When we had the first summit on June 16, 2015, our young government was delighted by the turnout and your willingness to work with us. Health is one of the pri­ority sectors for this gov­ernment, and I must thank you for sharing our goal to deliver for Kaduna State citizens a better health and longer life expectancy.

“During the first sum­mit, we shared with you some of the dismal indices of our state in infant and maternal mortality, malar­ia treatment, measles vacci­nation and HIV/AIDS prev­alence. We did that not for purposes of pointless lam­entation, but to underline the scale of the challenge and our duty to deliver bet­ter healthcare outcomes to our people.”

“Since then, our state House of Assembly has passed a law to place pri­mary healthcare under one roof. We have advanced the partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foun­dation and the Dangote Foundation close to the implementation phase. We have been prompt in mak­ing our counterpart fund­ing available for health programmes. The 2015 workplace with UNICEF is proceeding.