By Lucky Isibor
As part of measures to make health care affordable to the people, Edo State government has set machinery in motion to put health insurance scheme in place.
The publicity secretary of the Edo state chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Mr. Chris Azebamwan, made this known Tuesday, at a press briefing at the state Secretariat of the party in Benin City.
He assured of the resolve of the Godwin Obaseki led APC administration to make the new wing of the Central Hospital, Benin City a centre of excellence in health care delivery.
“The APC administration of Godwin Obaseki is determined to make the new wing of Central Hospital, Benin City a centre of excellence in medical practice.
“This requires that the state- of- art equipment that are in place must be operated by highly skilled personnel and managed by competent professional hospital administrators.
“Government is in the process of evaluating all options that are available to it. We are desirous of making sure that the services can be accessed by all strata of the society.
“In order to achieve this goal, government has sent a Bill to the State House of Assembly to put a health insurance scheme in place”, he said.
He assured that the scheme would make the cost of medical care affordable adding that it will sustain the services at the hospital and eradicate medical tourism.
On the first year anniversary of Governor Obaseki, Azebamwen said: “We did not go on a jamboree. Instead, the key activity was ‘Alghodaro 2017’ which was an investment summit that brought together leading lights in industry, academia, public service, entrepreneurs, manufacturers, SMEs.”
The APC spokesman assured that the industrial park which ground breaking ceremony was performed by Vice-president Osinbajo at the Alaghodaro investment summit is the first in a series of industrial parks in the state with the capacity to create direct jobs and other ancillary jobs that will fall out of industries and businesses that will serve outlets in the park.
While commenting on Governor Obaseki’s thank you tour, Azebamwen noted that it afforded the Governor the opportunity to connect with the grassroots adding, “it was an opportunity to do a first hand assessment of the needs of the people and to set the tone for a feed back mechanism.”
The Central Hospital, Benin City was built by the administration of former Governor Adams Oshiomhole and commissioned by President Mohammadu Buhari on the eve of Oshiomhole’s exit from office.
Since then the hospital has been a subject of criticism of the Obaseki led administration by the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP.
The PDP has maintained that the cost of the project was inflated and President Buhari deceived to commission it when it has not been completed.
