The Federal Ministry of Health is committed to working with the Nigeria Police Medical Services (NPMS) to deliver and provide desired healthcare services to members of the police force and members of their families. The Minister and Supervising Minister of Health, Khaliru Alhassan (Dr) said this recently when the management team of the Nigeria Police Medical Services led by Grace C. Okudo (AIG) paid him a courtesy call in Abuja.
In his speech delivered at the event, the Minister, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Linus Awute noted that it is pertinent to interface with an important and large organization like the Police Force, if the enormous public health challenges facing Nigeria must be surmounted. He observed that with the spread of over 350,000 police personnel across the country, collaborative effort to strengthen environmental hygiene, disease prevention, management and control in police barracks is of immediate need.
The Minister also revealed that the Department of Family Health of the Ministry is already working with the police on maternal and child health programmes and sensitization on the spread of communicable diseases. He further commended the team for successfully isolating and quarantining the 131 peace keeping
contingents from Liberia and advised that post-Ebola containment strategy is key to forestalling any possible new cases of Ebola Virus Disease in the country.
Speaking earlier, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Grace Okudo said that their visit to the Ministry was necessitated by the enormous healthcare challenges facing the force and the need to seek possible grounds for collaboration and partnership in tackling them.