The Imo State government says that it will use some of the twenty-seven new general hospitals are being constructed across the state to establish specialist hospitals to ensure efficiency in the health delivery system.
This was announced by the governor of the state, Owelle Rochas Okorocha while inspecting the progress of work at the Owerri North New General Hospital located at Naze.
Governor Okorocha said that under the arrangement, government will establish specialist hospitals like gynecology, pediatrics, psychiatrist, ophthalmology, etc to cater for complex cases and ensure that people of the state do not travel abroad again for medical services.m
He said “Health is wealth and my government attaches high premium to it”. We are planning to strength the health sector to avoid wastage of resources abroad. The old general hospital can no longer stand the test of time. This is why we have abandoned them. Very soon, people of other states will be coming here for Medicare and this will be a lot of money for the state, he added.
Governor Okorocha expressed satisfaction with the performance of the contractor handling the project saying that the new general hospitals at Owerri North, Ikeduru, Mbaitoli, ideato South, Nkwerre, Isiala Mbano have reached advanced stage of completion and will be the first to be commissioned.
The governor assured that he will not allow the same old story to be told about the new general hospitals saying that efforts will be made to provide the new hospital with modern equipment.
Governor Okorocha however called for the cooperation of the people to enable him to achieve these objectives.
William Unadike
Government House press
28th October, 2013
