Imoke Challenges Medical Professionals On Health Care Delivery
CALABAR, October 24, (THEWILL) - Cross River State Governor, Senator Liyel Imoke has called on Nigerian medical professionals to rise up to the challenges of health care delivery services to Nigerians who are dying every passing day from curable diseases.
Imoke gave the charge when he hosted Nigerians in Diaspora Medical Mission in Cross River State to a dinner, pointing out that the problem in the country is not that the nation lacks professionals or does not have the capacity to deliver but that there is no passion to service to humanity or that they do not understand the tenet of service which is the reason people are suffering because they are denied access to basic health care.
He urged them to move beyond the acquisition of the certificate to discharging service to the people in order to alleviate the untold hardship Nigerians especially the less privilege are exposed to.
“This Medical Team has brought to the state the passion for health care delivery by its mission, its gesture was not purchased or persuaded by innate. That is what Nigeria needs to deliver on its health care needs,” Imoke added.
Because of the challenge in delivering the primary health care delivery, Imoke pointed out the state government has recently recruited young doctors who will assist in driving the primary health delivery vision of the administration to rural dwellers.
The Governor disclosed that in a concerted effort to tackle health related issues the state government has concluded arrangement to establish a world class health facility which is Public Private Partnership (PPP) driven, adding that it recently signed a financial advisory agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), in Washington, DC to proffer professional financial advice to the project which he noted will transform health delivery system in the country.
Imoke noted that when fruition, the PPP model facility will create a more convenient health care delivery environment, providing standardized services by tested professionals who will man the hospital, adding that the state government will make an effort in mobilizing patronage for the facility from its work force to kick start it immediately.
He further averred that in pursuance of the realization of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, his administration embarked on the various social welfare initiative programmes targeted at the vulnerable in the society to reduce infants and maternal mortality which the state was ranked highest in the country and reduce poverty, adding that if the state can achieve that, it will touch lives of many people, especially those in the rural areas.
Senator Imoke stated that as a critical component to the success of the health care delivery initiative, his administration is making a deliberate effort in ensuring that the health institutions in the state gain their full accreditations so as to train the required manpower to man the facilities and also deliver on the vision of the state.
He promised his commitment to leverage the partnership established by the team’s visit for greater collaboration in the future in line with his passion for health care with the hope project and expand on it to improve on service delivery in the state.
He maintained that he will not adjudge the state from its sterling quality on the beautiful and serene look but ensuring that the most vulnerable and the weakest in the chain who is in dying need of health care, water and sanitation is attended to, adding that until such persons feels the impact of government, he has not yet started the delivery service as mandated by them.
Commissioner for Health, Dr. Edet Ikpi, lauded the medical mission for bringing succor to those in the remote villages which he noted aligns with the state government policy thrust of delivering service to those who need it most.
He maintained that the mission which undertook both surgical and general medical services to the citizenry attracted so many persons to the service centres who went home smiling after they were attended to by the experts in different medical conditions.
Special Assistant to the Governor on Diaspora Matters, Dr. Ikpeme Ebong disclosed that about 35 professionals came under the Diaspora Volunteer Medical Team to render health care services to the state, adding that the team was able to touch the lives of people in the three senatorial districts of the state while the exercise lasted.
He thanked members of the team for leaving the comfort of their home abroad to render selfless services to their fatherland and urged them to oblige whenever the state comes calling again.
Giving an over view of the mission, leader of the team, Dr. Felicia Bassey-Akamune stated that apart from the general surgery and other medical services which they rendered, the group on behalf of its partners, donated medical supplies to the General Hospital, Calabar and the Federal Nero- Psychiatric Hospital, Calabar.
She maintained that the mission also donated a full Dental Clinic to the Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH) medical campus to enhance their learning and practice, adding that the gesture is borne out of their desire to bring better health delivery to the lowly in the society.
Dr. Bassey-Akamune promised to collaborate with the state in actualizing its robust health delivery plan with world class services and encouraged other Nigerians in the Diaspora who are yet to key into the vision to do so by donating to support such missions in Nigeria as they will stand to be vindicated by posterity.