An orthopaedic surgeon and Medical Director of Alliance Hospital, Dr Christopher Otabor, has urged the Federal Government to deepen its partnership with the private sector to improve healthcare delivery and tackle out-of-school children in the country.
Otabor said this when he paid a courtesy visit to the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Delu Yakubu, in Abuja on Friday.
He also said the office of SSA to the President on Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation is in collaboration with the hospital to address out-of-school children and to ensure people at the grassroots access quality medical services at no cost.
According to UNICEF, one in three children in Nigeria is out of school, totalling 10.2 million at the primary level, and 8.1 million at the junior secondary school level.
It said one in every five out-of-school children in the world is in Nigeria.
“I will roll out my team of medical doctors to carry out regular medical outreaches in the FCT communities. We are ready to do the job. The team, in collaboration with the presidency, will identify and adopt children of the poor and give them scholarships.
“The Presidency needs to expand its collaboration to the private sector, and the future of the Nigerian children will be bright if the government collaborates with the private sector,” Otabor said.
According to him, many schoolchildren cannot go to school, and many Nigerians cannot pay their medical bills.
He emphasised that with collaboration, there will be an increase in school enrollment and delivery of quality healthcare.
Responding, Yakubu commended Otabor’s readiness to collaborate with the Federal Government in tackling out-of-school children and paying the medical bills of the vulnerable.
