Nigeria: Edo State Governor Obaseki rejects NMA Award
Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has rejected an award to be given to him by the state chapter of the Nigeria Medical Association
Governor Obaseki who was scheduled to receive the award at the Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), with the theme: “Effective Healthcare Delivery in Edo state,” said it was too early for him to be receiving awards
Obaseki stated that he has not done anything tangible to be considered for an award and that he believed that awards should be given after he has left office.
The Edo governor noted that the challenges in the sector were surmountable if concerted effort was made by all players in the sector to work as a team.
According to him, “The idea of leaving the responsibilities of the health care system to only doctors, will not take us to where we need to be. The health system affects the entire spectrum of the society and everybody should be involved in tackling the challenges, from the primary health care system, which is the bedrock of our health sector.
“In line with the federal government’s policy of one primary health care centre to a ward, we have already set up machinery to renovate, upgrade and reconstruct the first 20 health care centres across the 18 local government areas of the state.
“The pilot phase of the reconstruction work will start in August, with 20 primary health centres and training programme for the personnel that will run the system.”
He however assured that the lessons learnt from the pilot phase will guide the roll out of the other primary health centers later in the year.
Chairman of Edo NMA, Dr. Emmanuel 0saro 0saigbovo, said the body was poised to partner with all vital bodies to develop the healthcare delivery system in the State to an enviable heigh.
Dr. Osaigbovo called for periodic retraining of medical experts as well as provision of modern equipment is very important for doctors to carry out their work on daily basis to make patients comfortable.
“The annual general meeting is a period of critical apprasial of the activities of the association for the past one year.”
Credit: Nation Newspaper
