In a statement in Abuja, on Tuesday, Adetola said that the
handing-over ceremony took place at the Saudi Arabia Embassy.
Represented at the occasion by Alhaji Abdulazeez Abdullahi,
the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie
Ehanire, said the equipment would help to combat the ramifications of the
COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
Ehanire thanked the kingdom for its donation of 23
ventilators accompanied with other items such as surgical sterile gowns,
non-sterile surgical gowns, surgical mask, nitrite gloves.
He reiterated the government’s effort to fight the COVID-19
pandemic until its total eradication, as he acknowledged the Kingdom’s
continuous contributions to the growth of Nigeria’s health sector, through the
King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre.
The minister also appreciated the extensive efforts of the
kingdom in combating blindness, cataract and glaucoma, amongst other sight
weakness and disorders in Nigeria.
Ehanire expressed the government’s readiness to utilise the
donated medical equipment positively and their distribution to various medical
centres while noting the kingdom’s role as a key partner in global health and
development.
In his remarks, the Ambassador of the kingdom, Mr Faisal
Al-Ghamdi, emphasised his country’s plans to organise 12 voluntary medical
campaigns to combat blindness, undertake heart surgeries and cataract, across
Nigeria’s six geo-political zones.
He also mentioned different humanitarian assistance being
rendered by the kingdom to displaced persons in the North East, in addition to
the distribution of food baskets worth $10 million to families in Borno, Yobe,
and the Zamfara States.
NAN