By Yunusa Isa, Gombe

The Islamic Medical Association of Nigeria (IMAN) has launched a 50 million Naira fund raising (Waqaf) for the completion of its hospital project along Gombe Southern Bypass near Wuro Juli, and the upgrade of its Medical Home near Dukku Motor Park.

Speaking during a press briefing on the projects, chairman of the association Malam Nasir Muhammad Ishaq said upon completion, the hospital will serve as referral centre, where less privileged patients especially from rural areas can be attended to at subsidized rates.

He said the hospital which will consume over 30 million Naira to be completed, will go a long way in complementing the state and federal government’s health facilities in serving people of the state.

The chairman said the association through the special charity (Waqaf) fund, will raise 30 million Naira from monthly contributions of its over 3,000 members across the state, maintaining that the remaining 20 million Naira for equipping the home clinic will be raised from members of the public who wish to invest in the course of Allah.

“We target 50-60 million Naira for the completion of these projects, 30 million Naira from staff contributions of 2 million Naira monthly, while the 20 million Naira waqaf is expected to be contributed from members of the public”.

While assuring of financial accountability and transparency, Malam Nasir said “Three committees were put in place; one for the fund raising, another for project execution and implementation, then monitoring and evaluation committee, where the state executive council members will serve as watch dogs of the entire process”.

While calling on the members of the public to contribute to the waqaf fund, the chairman said “We will ensure the money generated and/or released is used accordingly”.

Malam Nasir noted that IMAN which aims to serve the less privileged patients especially by strengthening its unit branches, serves humanity at subsidized rate irrespective of faith, socioeconomic or cultural backgrounds.

Speaking further, the chairman said the association has initiated a cooperative to cater for the special needs of its members, revitalized its Rapid Response Team in cases of emergency as well as raise and encourage health literacy of the people via various media outfits.

Speaking on strategies developed by the association to reduce patients’ sufferings especially those on referrals from rural areas, the chairman noted that “A social network of our 3,000 health staff can help to address referral issues and complement government efforts in providing quality healthcare service to the people”.

On his part, the Chairman Fund Raising Committee Malam Jamilu Aliyu, said four categories of people are targeted to raise the fund.

“We target four groups of persons for this fund raising, which are federal legislatures including ministers and other federal government appointees; state legislatures including commissioners, groups and associations, as well as wealthy individuals”.

He added that the association has been on advocacy visits to various stakeholders to ensure seemless fund raising and execution of the projects.

Also speaking, the Chairman Project Execution and Implementation committee Dr Ibrahim Adam, said they are conducting a market survey of additional equipments needed to make the IMAN Medical Home more functional, as well as fencing the hospital project to make it more secured.

While noting that they will soon purchase some equipments for the Medical Home, Dr Ibrahim assured to increase IMAN visibility by reviving its units and referral centres across the state.

The association appreciated and sought for more media support in awareness creation for successful completion of the projects.