By Chaingi Avese, Makurdi
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, said the Nigerian Army has upgraded her Labour and Maternity wards at the 401 Special Forces Brigade Medical Centre, Joe Akahan Military Cantonment to eradicate infant and maternal mortalities within and outside the cantonment.
Gen. Lagbaja disclosed this while inaugurating the Remodeled 401 Special Forces Brigade Medical Centre, Joe Akahan Military Cantonment on Wednesday in Makurdi.
“The delivery of pregnant women in the cantonment, the labour and maternity wards have been upgraded to eradicate maternal and infant mortalities often occasioned by lack of essential equipment. With the new facility, women of child-bearing age in the cantonment should have no cause for alarm,” Gen. Lagbaja said.
He further disclosed that similar interventions had since commenced in the brigade medical centres in Lokoja and Ikeja cantonment, Lagos, while that of the Gibson Jalo cantonment, Yola would be the next in line.
The COAS stated that the intervention in the Nigerian Army medical facilities was only one of the numerous efforts to upgrade Nigerian Army welfare facilities in line with the sound administration beam of his Command Philosophy.
He asserted his belief in adequate support for the home front and good welfare package necessary to strengthen the moral component of fighting power, emphasizing that when the troops were well-led and well-catered for, they would fight well to secure the country from internal and external threats.
Gen. Lagbaja added that, “the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the centre was also equipped with basic life support machines to save lives before referral to a higher or more advanced tertiary facility, should the need arose”.
He thanked President Bola Tinubu for his support to the Nigerian Army, stressing that it had continued to receive from the Federal Government.
Meanwhile, the Commander 4 Special Forces Command, Maj. Gen. Hillary Nzan, pointed out that the medical facility would not only bring succour to the cantonment community but also to the adjoining communities as its services would be open to the civil populace.
Nzan lauded COAS for the initiative and bringing it to actualization.
