From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives, on Wednesday, reiterated its commitment to make health care more accessible to Nigerians.
The speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, said  this is  in line with the Legislative Agenda of the ninth House.
Gbajabiamila stated this while declaring open a public on a ” Bill for an Act to Establish the National Agency For Sickle Cell Disease and other Heritage Blood Disaster for the Treatment, Prevention Control and Management of the Disease in Nigeria,” and other health related bills.
According to him, “we set out a Legislative Agenda that outlined the scope of our governing ambitions…
“In that document, we made commitments to improve access to healthcare services for all our nation’s people, increase funding for healthcare research, improve the mechanisms for training and providing for our healthcare professionals amongst other things”.
The bill, which is sponsored by Bamidele Salam, seeks to tackle deaths arising from sickle cell disorder.
According to the bill, the agency when established will  “formulate and implement policies, guidelines and strategies on sickle cell disease and other heritable blood disorders;
facilitate the engagement of all tiers of government and all sectors on issues of sickle cell disease and other heritable blood disorders prevention, care and support.
“Advocate for the mainstreaming of sickle cell disease and other heritable blood disorders interventions into all sectors of the country; promote, improve and support research and learning in sickle cell disease and other heritable blood disorders”.