The Akwa Ibom State University Teaching Hospital, commenced in the immediate past administration of Mr Udom Emmanuel, is to complement the services of University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, UUTH, and optimise healthcare delivery at the tertiary level in the State.
The State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno, during his interaction with Management Staff of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital who were on a courtesy visit at Government House, announced that work on the completion of the medical facility located in ONNA, is being intensified.
Governor Eno described as alarming, the volume of traffic to the UUTH by patients and traced the upsurge to the institution being the only facility that provides services at the tertiary level to the public.
He acknowledged that despite the facility’s federal status, the State government has been unrelenting in its assistance in terms of structures and services to enable it cater for the health needs of the people of the State.
“The State is preparing to establish its Teaching Hospital and we are working very hard to see if we can give you respite by having two Teaching Hospitals in the State. The beauty of it is that it will complement the services of UUTH and since Doctors are not many you will be the ones to consult for us and we will always come calling for your assistance to help us”.
He said his administration has improved in healthcare services by revamping the primary healthcare sector for efficiency, reduce traffic on the secondary and tertiary healthcare institutions across the State, expressing the determination of his administration to dot the landscape of every local government with a model healthcare institution before the end of his tenure.
Governor Eno therefore appealed to companies and donor agencies to help fast track establishment of model healthcare institutions across the State, assuring that Ambulance services would be put in place in the local government areas and strategic locations in the State capital for enhanced healthcare services as promised the people during his electioneering campaign.
The State Chief Executive hinted that capacity building in the health sector would receive primal consideration as health staff would be trained and employed even as modalities have been put in place for the commencement of Health Insurance Scheme before the end of the year.
“On Health Insurance I believe we have gone far, we trust that in the next one month we will kick start health insurance scheme in the State .
“The ARISE Agenda is focused on Primary Healthcare and as you know the secondary healthcare was really taken care of in the last administration but there was a disconnect because a lot of people don’t have access to the healthcare facilities in the rural communities so when you talk about the hospital being a general hospital in Uyo that shows that there’s a gap.
“We are driving the primary healthcare and believe that by the time we leave office we should be able to at least have a Model Primary Healthcare Center in every Local Government and Companies in our communities and Donor Agencies can adopt this model for us .
“We should be able to put Ambulances around our Local Government to help our people as we promised during our campaigns and by the grace of God we will do the best we can”, he stated .
Governor Eno noted with regret the prevalence of cancer and renal cases among the people and hinted that plans are underway to establish a Renal Treatment Centre along the Ibom Specialist Hospital axis of the State, saying that he had gone on site inspection earlier in the day and assured that the center will commence operations within one year.
He urged medical experts to sensitize the public on the rise of renal diseases and cancer and measures to checkmating it with a view to reverse the trend.
“On the issue of renal failure , we are working towards that and coincidentally just this morning I went on inspection of the site and we are trying to open a Medical Corridor along the Ibom Specialist Hospital axis. We are working hard and we have identified the site and we are trusting God that we will be able to get it started. I have been promised that within one year if the funds are available the center will be operational”, he assured .
On the issue of power generation, he asked the UUTH Management to consider a Gas Turbine as alternative means of power generation to save costs, and commended the UUTH management for their services to the State.
Earlier, the Chief Medical Director, University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Professor Ememabasi Bassey, congratulated the Governor on his election victory and conveyed the best wishes of the Staff and management of the hospital to him and his executive, expressing optimism that as a successful entrepreneur, he would bring his wealth of experience to bear in piloting the State’s affairs to more gains.
He commended the State’s Chief Executive for the priority given to the health sector in his A.R.I.S.E. Agenda blueprint and stated the willingness of UUTH to partner the administration in its quest to deliver on the agenda.
Professor Bassey told the State delegation that the institution came into existence as a specialist Hospital in 1996, got gazetted as UUTH in 1998 and has since grown to become a training ground for high level medical manpower in the rank of Resident Doctors, House Officers and Medical Interns, even as it has added two HND Awarding Institutions and is on the verge of establishing a College of Nursing Science to address manpower needs.
The Medical Director however listed its challenges to include dearth of infrastructure, power generation, inadequate manpower, poor funding, among others, explaining that despite the setbacks UUTH has recorded tremendous strides in the area of renovation and construction of new buildings, Services delivery, setting up of the Accident And Emergency Unit and used the occasion to invite the Governor to inaugurate the Unit by the end of November.
He proposed the commencement of Hip And Knee Replacement Surgeries, In-vitro Fertilization treatment as well as Renal Transplant Services and called on the State government to come to the aid of the hospital by initiating and completing a signature project, commence the implementation of Health Insurance Scheme, persuade ExxonMobil to complete the abandoned Trauma Center, institute endowment fund for emergency treatment of indigenes at the Accident And Emergency Unit especially in the first twenty four hours of admission, purchase of consumables, among others.
While appreciating the Governor for granting them audience, Professor Bassey, on behalf of the UUTH Management, commended the appointment of Dr Ekem John as the Governor’s Special Assistant on Medical Affairs, reappointment of Professor Augustine Umoh as Commissioner for Health, his gesture of picking up the bills of patients at various times and other assistance extended to the institution.
Highpoint of the visit was a presentation of a Cheque of Thirty Million Naira intervention fund by Governor Umo Eno to the management of the hospital .
