Leadership of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Kaduna state branch, on a courtesy visit to Uba Sani at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House
The Kaduna branch of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has commended Uba Sani, governor of the state, over “a remarkable transformation of the state’s health sector” in just two years in office.
During a courtesy visit to the governor, Hassan Bala Salihu, NMA chairman in the state, said the Sani administration has achieved several “firsts” in infrastructure development, welfare, and capacity building for medical professionals.
“Kaduna state has approved and paid the 2024 and 2025 medical residency training funds (MRTF). In fact, it is the first state in the country to pay the training fund of 2025,” he said.
Salihu also highlighted other policy milestones, noting that “Kaduna state is the first state in northern Nigeria to promulgate the Mental Health Bill into law and to integrate mental health services at general hospitals”.
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“The state has also pioneered the Alternative to Incarceration (ATI) programme, a collaboration between the justice and health systems, to address the underlying causes of delinquency and criminality among youths,” he said.
The NMA chairman also commended the state government for introducing a bonding scheme for medical students, which he said would help reduce the “Japa syndrome”.
“This will reduce the high incidence of both internal and external ‘Japa Syndrome’, where medical doctors leave the state civil service for other federal government-owned health institutions within Kaduna state or migrate out of the country,” he said.
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He announced that the NMA Kaduna branch had nominated the governor as its patron and for a national award, making him the third non-medical doctor to receive the honour after former president Ibrahim Babangida and Babagana Zulum, Borno state governor.
In his response, Sani accepted the NMA’s request to serve as its patron, donated an operational vehicle to the association, and agreed to host the next NMA Games.
Describing the NMA as “a partner in progress”, he acknowledged the association’s role in strengthening the state’s health system.
“We sometimes disagree on some issues. But the association is partly behind the success story of the health sector in Kaduna,” the governor added.
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