By Christopher Ameh, Bauchi

BAUCHI — The Federal Government has commissioned Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)-powered ambulances and a CNG refill station at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH), Bauchi, as part of efforts to strengthen emergency healthcare services across the state.

The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, who inaugurated the facilities on Friday at ATBUTH, said the ambulances would support emergency services at primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities across the state.

Pate said the intervention was necessitated by the need to address transportation challenges that had left some residents stranded in healthcare facilities due to non-functional ambulances.

The minister said the Federal Government had identified inadequate investment in healthcare services in some states as a major weakness and was intervening to strengthen service delivery.

He said the intervention in Bauchi covered all 20 local government areas of the state.

Pate said the Federal Government had also revitalised several primary healthcare centres in the state, adding that more than 12,500 women, children and other patients had benefited from emergency medical services in the past 18 months.

He also said more than 5,000 women had benefited from obstetric fistula services in Bauchi during the period.

According to him, nearly 4,000 Bauchi State graduates had also secured employment through various interventions.

However, Pate urged residents to support President Bola Tinubu in future elections, citing what he described as the President’s “love” for the state, including the appointment of two ministers from Bauchi.

Also speaking, the Chief Medical Director of ATBUTH, Prof. Yusuf Bara, commended the Federal Government for the intervention, saying modern healthcare delivery required reliable energy to support clinical and operational services.

He said the CNG facility would provide additional resilience for healthcare operations at the hospital.

Bara said the facility had successfully undergone safety and compliance inspection by the North-East Zonal Office of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).

He said the hospital had met the required regulatory benchmarks and was prepared for the final stage of operational certification.

According to him, safety and regulatory compliance were essential to the operation of the facility, adding that the hospital was committed to ensuring its proper maintenance and safe operation.

Bara also said the distribution of the ambulances was significant because of the importance of time in healthcare delivery.

He said delays in transporting patients to facilities where specialised care was available could have serious consequences, even when the correct diagnosis and treatment plan had been provided.

The ambulances were distributed to ATBUTH, Teaching Hospital Azare, Federal Medical Centre, Misau, General Hospital Toro, General Hospital Ningi and General Hospital Gamawa.