Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State has inaugurated a remodelled general hospital in Iquita, Oron local government area as part of efforts to reposition secondary healthcare services.
The state government had earlier completed the renovation of another general hospital in Etinan.
In additional, 25 additional doctors and consultants as well as nurses are to be employed by the state government.
Speaking while inaugurating the health facility, the Governor decried the sorry state he met the Iquita hospital upon assumption of office adding the modern facilities are similar to those that could be found in a teaching hospital elsewhere.
He charged the staff and management of the hospital to ensure strict maintenance and security of the facilities.
He maintained that his duty is to construct, while maintenance must be a shared responsibility.
“This project just like all other projects in the state have been executed by the PDP-led administration, but once we put up the facility, it is for everybody. There is no political party here, even non-Nigerians can use the hospital”, the Governor assured.
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‘As at today, we have brought in 36 containers of medical containers and our target is to bring in 50. The other 14,” he assured, would be arriving in a short.
The Chairman of the Hospital Management Board, David Udoumoh, described the transformation in Iquita as a holistic one, saying the hospital which is one of the three reference hospitals in the state, is now fully digitalized to take care of the challenges of manual records and physical movement of documents.
He said that the hospital established in 1941 had long gone into a sorry state that, “coming into this facility became like a signature that you are going to die.”
The medical community in the State, according to Dr. Udoumoh, was happy with the vision of the Governor who reconstructed, remodeled and re-equipped the hospital.
He thanked the contractors for working according to specification, adding that the heads in the state health sector will continue to work with the Governor in ensuring that he achieves his vision of revamping all the hospitals in the state.
Also speaking, the Akon Eyakenyi. a senator who represents Akwa Ibom South in the Senate said the Governor has written history in Gold for Oron people, by making the area his first port of call for project commissioning since his resumption for a second term less than two months ago.
“Your Excellency, Oron was one of the first local government areas you visited when you were first elected in 2015 and there you saw what the Oron people were passing through as it relates to roads construction, and you stood and made a statement and in few months we saw what you did. May the Lord bless you.”
She commended the Governor for the contract awarded for the Atabong road project in Okobo as well as other developments he is bringing to the people.
Others who expressed their goodwill at the event were the Chairman of Oron, the House of Assembly member for the area as well as the Chief Medical Consultant of the hospital.
