The US Ambassador, Stephanie S Sullivan, on Tuesday inaugurated a National Emergency Dispatch Centrein Gushiegu in the Northern Region.
The centre which is part of the Acute Care and Emergency Referral System (ACERS) Project is the first of its kind in the region.
The centre put up by the Catholic Relief Service (CRS) with the support of the US government is meant to save lives of pregnant women in the area.
Inaugurating the centre, Ms Sullivan explained that the aim of the support was to expand quality health delivery to the people of the district, particularly pregnant women.
She explained that the centre would contribute significantly to attainment of Sustainable Development Goal 3, which is to ensure healthy lives and promotion of well-being for all at all ages.
Ms Sullivan said the centre was a key component of a $5.1 million supported health system strengthening project.
She stated that the project would specifically focus on mother and newborn and encouraged all to make good use of the facility.
Ms Sullivan stated that the US government was committed to helping to address the bottlenecks in accessing safe and quality health care in the country.
She emphasised that the US government was not only interested in ensuring quality health care but was equally interested in ensuring timely delivery of health services to the deprived in the society.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of National Ambulance Service, Prof. Ahmed NuhuZakaria, said the centre would help the implementation of ambulance service smoothly in the district.
Prof. Zakariasaid the centre would help improve lives of women and children in the whole district.
He said the inauguration of the centre would help realise the aim of the ambulance service decentralising emergency referral in a coordinated wayfrom the regional level to the district level.
The Gusheigu District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Robert YajaDawuni, commended the US government and CRS for their support.
He was optimistic that the centre would not only help improve the lives of the women but would also reduce poverty in the area.
FROM YAKUBU ABDUL-MAJEED, GUSHEIGU