Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole has said that the Federal government is planning to construct 10,000 primary health centres in 774 local government areas across the country.
He said about 60 million indigent Nigerians would have access to quality healthcare.
Adewole spoke at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido Ekiti (FETHI), where he inaugurated 12 projects executed and completed by its Chief Medical Director, Dr. Majekodunmi Ayodele.
He said: “The tertiary institutions are not meant to treat malaria or skin rashes, but to attend to critical issues.
“We are determined to take away over 70 per cent of patients from the teaching hospitals, but the heads of tertiary institutions must find a way to relate freely with this cadre for effective healthcare delivery.
“We won’t abandon that cadre so that the sequence of referral could be protected.”
“It is unfortunate that our national hospitals are better known for strikes, rather than services.
“The human factor is the most important; we should learn to put services above all other considerations in our agitations as medical practitioners because some of the cases I have handled in recent time were more of how to get more pay and not about commitment.
“Those engaging in the fuelling of crises in federal health institutions are those fighting to replace the present occupiers of the seats of CMDs. But I want to warn that they should wait for their time.”