Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has secured a $6 million (about N2.1 billion) worth of new medical equipment from MedShare, a U.S.-based non-profit organisation in Atlanta.

Akeredolu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Atlanta that he ordered 20 container loads of new medical equipment from MedShare to strengthen the state’s healthcare.

NAN reported that the non-profit organisation had donated more than $40 million worth of new medical equipment to strengthen Nigeria’s healthcare systems in the last 20 years.

All the 19 northern state governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have benefitted from the organisation while beneficiaries in the south include Abia, Anambra, Bayelsa, Delta, Osun, Oyo, Lagos, Enugu and Abia.

Akeredolu said the partnership with MedShare would see the state securing up to 50 container loads of equipment to equip all its hospitals and health centres with new state-of-art medical facilities.

The governor said when his aide secured the deal, he felt it was unbelievable, especially considering that in Nigeria, people believe used medical equipment could be shipped to the country.

“I went there (MedShare) myself and found out that everything they’re going to ship down is new and a lot of our colleagues have benefitted from this; nobody has ever mentioned it.

“I mean what I got from Nell (Diallo), the Vice Chairman of MedShare, is that initially she got the 19 states in the north to come and they all came and bought into it.

“Babangida (former governor Aliyu) bought into it in Niger State.

“Today, Bayelsa is doing a lot because it got people to sponsor them; Bayelsa is doing a lot of shipment.

“I now said if this be the case and we never knew and not only that, the Federal Government of Nigeria has bought into it.

“When we got into their storage facility, we saw a lot of packages ready to go to National Hospital, a lot are going to Bayelsa.

“And I was saying ‘wow, wow’ so we are missing out of these?

“I said to them immediately, we are going to order for about 20 container loads to start with,’’ Akeredolu said.