13th December, 2012
The local council authorities in Kano, northwest Nigeria have appealed to the National Youths Service Corps, NYSC, to post more doctors to the state to enhance primary health care, particularly, in the rural areas.
The NYSC Coordinator in the state, Alhaji Bashir Yakasai revealed that there were less than 10 doctors out of the over 2,000 corps members in Batch C posted to Kano.
“Owing to the panic occasioned by security challenges, some hundreds of corps members sought for redeployment. Right now, we have less than 10 NYSC medical doctors in Kano,” he stated.
Alhaji Yakasai identified dearth of corps medical doctors to attend to the health needs of residents as one of the challenges facing the scheme in the state.
“You see, over the years, the local people have developed trust and respect for corps medical doctors posted to the state. These doctors have contributed a lot to the health needs of the people.
“Yes, we agree that there are security challenges but everyone knows that after the January 20 incident, government has beefed up security in the state. Corps members are well protected in the state.
“The local government authorities have continued to appeal to us to post corps medical doctors to their areas. As I am speaking to you now, we have less than 10 of them covering about 44 local government areas with over 10 million people. This is grossly insufficient.
“I am appealing to parents and guardians to stop panicking. They should allow their children to answer the national call. We are happy that some of the corps members who asked for redeployment because of insecurity are gradually coming back,” Yakasai stated.
P.M.NEWS reports that over 800 corps members from Batch C recently sought redeployment from the state following threat of attack by Boko Haram members.
—Maduabuchi Nmeribeh/Kano