The Global Fund in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has taken over the upgrading of the Enugu State Central Medical Store to an international standard.
Speaking during the official handover of the facility to Unicef representative and acting Chief of Field Office, Enugu Field Office, Olusoji Akinleye, the Enugu State Commissioner for Health, Ikechukwu Obi said the new administration in Enugu State headed by Peter Mbah, is on a different track and in a hurry to reposition Enugu to be the investment capital in Nigeria and that all the arrangement to ensure that Enugu takes that position is very key now.
The commissioner said that Enugu was one of the 22 states out of 36 that benefited from the grant aimed at improving the infrastructure that is used in the logistics and supply chain management of pharmaceuticals and medical commodities.
“We are currently in our central medical store for Enugu State where we have our commodities, what this partnership is going to do is to revitalise this place and make it highly efficient and make it pharma grade comparable with the highest standard you can get anywhere in the world,” he said.
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He commended UNICEF and Global Fund, the Federal government and other agencies for supporting the upgrade of 22 state warehouses in Nigeria to an international standard as a development that would contribute immensely to the health standard of the nation.
Also in his speech, the Unicef Representative, Akinleye, said the event was aimed at strengthening the state logistic management system as part of the health system in the state and that the project would be delivered on 31st of December 2023.
According to him, “The discussions have been ongoing, and that it is a multi-partner venture, at the apex of it is the Global Fund that has provided the resources to strengthen the countries’ supply chain management system and 22 states were selected out of 36 and Enugu makes it as one of them. It is coming at a time the state is welcoming a new administration in that of Peter Mbah, who has shown everybody in no doubt at all his intention to turn the state around.”
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Akinleye said his organisation met with the governor and he made his intention very clear and that they are convinced that the steps he has taken so far will go a long way to make the changes that are expected in the health system in the state.
He emphasised that the three states of Anambra, Enugu and Imo in the Enugu Unicef Field Office benefited from the upgrading of the warehouse.
“The principal recipient for the grant is the National TB and Leprosy Control Programme (NTBLCP). Other collaborating government partners include the National Product Supply Chain Management Program (NPSCMP), the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), and the Department of Health Planning, Research and Statistics (DHPRS),” he noted
UNICEF, he said, coordinates the technical coordination and construction of the warehouses. The bidding process has been concluded and vendors selected, MoUs have been signed with the states and the stage is now set for the sites to be handed over by the state governments to the vendors for construction work to commence.
