Ugwuanyi boosts heathcare, inagurates 200-bed specialist hospital

A MOVE to improve access to quality healthcare, especially for rural dwellers in Enugu State was launched on Monday as the State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, laid the foundation stone of a 200-bed ultra modern specialist hospital at Orba in Udenu local council of the state.

The governor said that his desire to embark on the project, which would be replicated in other parts of the state, was to provide quality medicare for residents of the state.

He stated that the drive was predicated on his belief that no effort could be considered too much to provide easy and affordable access to health.

Ugwuanyi said: “During my inaugural speech, I had expressed my desire to turn Enugu State into a preferred destination for quality medical treatment. To actualize this aspiration I promised to build a hospital chain across the state that will complement existing hospitals and other health facilities. “It’s common knowledge that Nigerians spend huge sums of money annually to seek medical treatment abroad.

It’s even sadder to note that a good percentage of this is from the South East Nigeria with Enugu State contributing a large number. We have decided as a government to do whatever we can to significantly reduce this avoidable waste of scarce resources by our people in their search for qualitative medical treatment.”

The event according to him was a bold step towards the realization of the state’s dream. “It is indeed our aspiration that Enugu will one day become the centre for medical tourism in this country, if not in Africa. “The location of this hospital in the rural area will further open up the rural areas of the state,” he said.

The governor said that the measure would create more employment and check the rural-urban drift. Ugwuanyi called on medical and allied personnel across the state to show more dedication and commitment to their duties and to avoid industrial actions.

He assured that government will continue to provide the facilities and logistic that will improve medicare and ensure speedy completion of the project so that the people will not have to wait long before they start enjoying the benefits.

Earlier, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Samuel Ngwu, said the hospital would check the trauma the people of the area suffer. He said over 40 per cent of patients seeking medical attention at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUTECH) were from Enugu North Senatorial zone. “This hospital will check the trauma people from the zone experience in seeking medical attention.

When completed this hospital will offer tertiary healthcare services with all the four major departments and its allied health services incorporated.”

Ngwu said that the goal of the administration was to build an integrated hospital system that would provide services that could compete favourably with other centers across the continent. He said that the hospital would serve as a grooming center for newly graduated medical doctors with an adjoining nursing school.