The Kaduna State Government on Tuesday unveiled its new primary health care law.

Addressing the second Kaduna State Healthcare Partners’ Summit, the governor, Nasir El-Rufai, thanked the State House of Assembly for speedy passage of the law.

The new law permits the state to organise its primary healthcare activities under one roof. The implementation of the law will transfer workers in primary healthcare centres from local governments to the state civil service.

El-Rufai said: “When we had the first summit on 16 June, 2015, in this very room, 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 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 for our people. One of our key goals is to place our state in the top tier for healthcare delivery. Participants responded positively to our request for coordination and collaboration among partners and donors to support our government’s healthcare programme.

“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.

“Our MoU with GE Healthcare has reached costing level, and both parties are ready to deliver modernised 255 primary healthcare centres, one in each ward, in 2016. This is a priority item in our 2016 budget, as are improvements to secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities and the recruitment of doctors, nurses and other medical professionals.

“We look forward to receiving your feedback on the conception and the execution so far of our healthcare agenda. We expect this summit to strengthen and reinforce collaboration between us and our partners towards enhancing the quality of life of our people.”

•Photo shows Governor El-Rufai.