The Yobe State government, on Wednesday, said it had declared a state of emergency in the health sector to improve health care delivery and reduce medical tourism outside the state.

This was announced on Wednesday by Commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Kaigama Umar, during an interview in Damaturu.

According to Kaigama, who is supervising the state Ministry of Health, the government had begun structural rehabilitation of hospitals across the state and would provide additional equipment and working materials to the various health institutions.

He disclosed that the state government is also employing more doctors and medical staff to boost the manpower in the hospitals, stating that there are at the moment 57 doctors, comprising 29 indigenous doctors.

“The emergency is targeted at improving the health sector because government spends so much on payment of referral cases; just last week, we paid N18 million for cases referred to Kano, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, among others,” he said.

The commissioner also said that government spent N20 million monthly to procure free drugs for pregnant women, children and victims of road accidents.

“The free drugs programme has been a success story in Yobe because it has reduced maternal and infant mortality rate in the state,” he said.