Northern Governors Forum Partners GE to Boost Healthcare in the Region

Martins Ifijeh

The Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF) is partnering GE Healthcare, a leading global provider of transformational medical technologies and services, as a long-term partner to revitalise healthcare infrastructure in the Northern states, with the signing of a one-of-a-kind strategic partnership agreement recently in Abuja.

Under the framework agreement, designed to bring GE’s global capabilities in improving health system and patient outcomes across the globe, NSFG and GE will explore several areas for collaboration across primary, secondary and tertiary care facilities including: the establishment of new diagnostic medical centres; primary and referral care offerings such as relevant technologies to modernise health clinics; training and skills development for health workers and operations and evaluation support.

Speaking at the signing, Borno State governor and Head of NSGF, Governor Kashim Shettima said, “Today, we execute the framework agreement between the NSGF and GE for the transformation of the healthcare sector in Northern Nigeria. We are proud to have a partner like GE, a leader in the healthcare space and we look forward to reaping the benefits of this partnership soon. We appreciate GE’s commitment to increasing accessibility and affordability of healthcare in Nigeria.”

Eyong Ebai, General Manager for GE Healthcare in West and Central Africa said, “We are delighted to partner with the Northern States Governors Forum on this landmark agreement that sets the path towards a range of efforts that will contribute towards the attainment of universal healthcare coverage in Northern Nigeria. Over the past five years, GE Healthcare has executed on its localisation strategy by building a strong local footprint, capacity building and several initiatives to help healthcare providers in delivering better, more holistic healthcare for the people of Nigeria. We look forward to delivering on the next stage of our growth plans in Nigeria.”

In 2012, GE Healthcare and the Nigerian Ministry of Health signed a five year agreement for the upgrade of the country’s medical facilities and contribute towards health infrastructure modernisation.