We are reviving the health sector – Dr Bassey

 BY NSEOBONG DAVID

The Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Health has witnessed tremendous revival in the health sector since the appointment of Dr. EmemAbasi Bassey as the Commissioner for Health in June 2013.  Since his assumption of office, Dr. Bassey took it as a passion to transform the health sector by working assiduously to tackle the needs and challenges he met in the area.

In a chat with journalists in the state, Dr. Bassey thanked the State Governor, Dr. Godswill Akpabio for giving him the privilege to serve in the ministry; he also thanked him for his encouragements and supports to him and the Ministry of Health.  He thanked the Permanent Secretary, Elder Essang Bassey, directors and staff of the Ministry for what he termed as an unusual co-operation given to him since his assumption of office.  He disclosed that with the co-operation of these people, he was able to accomplish some of his tasks in the health sector.

According to the Health boss, the challenges he faced on assumption of office were numerous, and in tackling them, he grouped them into five groups which included: inadequate manpower, infrastructure, poor attitude of health professionals to work, inadequate resources and loss of accreditation.

He used the occasion to highlight his achievements in the last one year in office as the state commissioner for health as follows: convening of 7th State Council on Health with a theme: Improved Maternal and Child Health Care Service through Primary Health Care Approach; infrastructural developments which included completion and commissioning of the two new Cottage Hospitals in Ika and Eastern Obolo and immediate resumption of service the same day, re-equipping the general hospital in Ikot Ekpene, Eket and Oron for purposes of training of house officers and other interns, rebuilding of IDH Ikot Ekpene, construction of two twin two bedroom flats at Cottage Hospital, Ikot Abia, Mkpat Enin LGA, construction of State Diagnostic Centre at Ikot Ekpene, etc.

In the area of service delivery, Dr. Bassey hinted that he carries out regular monitoring visits both scheduled and unscheduled to all secondary health facilities.  He also listed other services delivered by his administration to include: free health care services to children, pregnant women and elderly, provision of free malaria commodities to all public health facilities in the state, provision of RDTs to all public health facilities in the state, provision of 31 microscopes to all Local Government Area in the State, increase in Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV/AIDS, sustained reduction of HIV prevalence in the State from 10.9% to 6.5%, etc.

He also stated that his administration has facilitated the establishment of the Health Development Partner Forum which has helped to avoid duplication of activities and has increased efficiency and mobilization of resources, thereby enhancing a conducive environment that attracts new partner-driven health programmes to the state; and revalidation of health facilities and lots more.

To boost manpower in the health sector, the state Ministry of Health, under the able leadership of Dr. EmemAbasi Bassey is conducting an on-going recruitment of all cadre of health staff.  Also, there has been a re-accreditation of Central School of Nursing, Ikot Ekpene, re-accreditation of School of Midwifery, Oron, Anua and Ituk Mbang and process ongoing for the accreditation of the remaining schools, including the School of Health Technology, Etinan.  Also to boost manpower development, the Ministry of Health has organized series of trainings to health workers on various health programmes and skills development.

The Health boss expressed dismay at the way non-professionals (quacks) were getting involved in health practices, thereby endangering people’s health in the process.  He, therefore, called on individuals to report such persons when found indulging in practices that jeopardize the health of the people.  He also frowned at the way residential areas are used to preserve bodies, which he said was detrimental to health; thus, appealed to members of the public who have abandoned their corpses in the mortuary at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), to immediately go and claim them, as the state government is planning a mass burial for those corpses.

Dr. EmemAbasi Bassey appreciated His Excellency, Chief (Dr.) Godswill Obot Akpabio for showing that good health is also God’s will in the State.