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Ondo Plans Heavy Investments In Health Sector, Says Mimiko

By Editor
19 September 2015   |   5:19 am
ONDO State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko has promised that his government would continue to invest in the state’s health facilities until it is established as a point of reference in medical tourism in Nigeria and beyond.
MIMIKO-GOV

Ondo state governor, Mimiko

ONDO State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko has promised that his government would continue to invest in the state’s health facilities until it is established as a point of reference in medical tourism in Nigeria and beyond.

The governor also called for proper verification of emerging data from different sources in the health sector so as to differentiate genuine data-backed results from politically generated ones.

Mimiko, who was on Thursday conferred with an honorary fellowship award by the National Postgraduate Medical College at its 33rd Convocation ceremony in Ijanikin, Lagos, while receiving the award, challenged scholars at the event to be more proactive in verifying data emanating from different sources.

The governor promised He noted that at the inception of his administration, “it was clear there had to be a total overhaul and reform of the health system and we chose to put maternal and child care at the front burner of medical attention.”

He added: “We were resolute in our conviction that finances should not be a barrier to qualitative healthcare and that for us to succeed, all pregnant women must be tracked from conception to delivery.”

He explained that six years down the line, the government’s home-grown Abiye (safe-motherhood) programme is today arguably one of the most successful and talked about healthcare initiatives in the developing world.

He said at the inception of his administration in February 2009, the government met a poorly funded, poorly equipped health infrastructure manned by an ill-motivated and under-staffed professional work force.

He said it did not help matters that the 2008 Nigeria Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) put Ondo State as having the worst maternal and child health indices in the South-West, stressing however that the state has reduced Maternal Mortality Ratio from a baseline of 545 per 100,000 births, a reduction of over 70 per cent, adding that the state had the unenviable reputation of being the only South-West state and one of the few nationwide without a state-run teaching hospital for both under and post -graduate training at the time.

“Perhaps, this is another noteworthy record set by Ondo State. With your endorsement, we now have teaching hospitals in the state, something we have lacked since her creation almost 40 years ago,” he noted.

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