Edo to privatise Benin Specialist Hospital for optimal healthcare services

Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki says his administration has resolved to privatise the Specialist Hospital in Benin City to provide world-class healthcare services.
According to Obaseki, the privatisation of the hospital will put it at par with the best hospitals in the world, and will serve the healthcare needs of Nigerians who ordinarily would have travelled abroad for such services.
The logic of his administration is to woo those who have the resources to travel abroad for treatment to Edo State, for standard healthcare services instead of travelling abroad, the governor said.
The accruing resources from the medical tourists will be channelled to provide affordable healthcare services for the ordinary Edo people across the state, he said.
He made this position known at the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Edo State government and the Catholic Relief Services (CRS), which will provide over 2 million treated mosquito nets for Edo citizens.
The governor added that many people suffer from malaria compared to renal failure, and stressed that primary healthcare was key to improved health of the people.
“We are going to invest massively in our primary healthcare system,” the governor assured.
The MoU is important as it emphasises what the administration stands for and it is the beginning of cooperation between this administration and the CRS and other donor bodies in providing affordable healthcare for the people of Edo State, he said.
This administration places high premium on the healthcare of the people, the governor said, which explains why he appointed the Deputy Governor Phillip Shaibu to head the Edo State Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Net Campaign Committee.
“I hope we will make history by emerging the first state in the country to totally eliminate malaria. Our counterpart fund is available and we are working round the clock to ensure that the time line we set for ourselves for the rollout, which is August 20 this year, is met,” he said.
The leader of the team for CRS Ikhimioya Uchechuku commended the governor for the collaboration and expressed their readiness to work with the administration to ensure that malaria was a thing of the past in the state.
The high point of the event was the signing of the MoU. Uchechuku signed for CRS while the secretary to the state government, Osarodion Ogie, signed for the state government.