Akwa Ibom State Governor Pastor Umo Eno has said that ten dialysis centres would be established across all the federal constituencies in the state.
Consequently, Eno has directed the immediate commencement of recruitment and training of professionals to meet the manpower needs of the dialysis centres which are to be fully operational by June next year.
Speaking at Immanuel General Hospital, Eket on Monday, where Eno commissioned the Enoch and Folu Adeboye Dialysis Center, donated by the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) the governor ordered the deployment of relevant personnel from the State hospitals to the dialysis centre to ensure that the facility is not underutilized due to lack of manpower.
“I am directing the Honourable Commissioner for Health and critical stakeholders of the state to ensure that they provide a Dialysis Center in each federal constituency and assure me that between now and June 2024, those dialysis centres will be available and functional.
“I have already approved the deployment of staff to the centre. I had given the Honourable Commissioner for Health approval to search for qualified people to come and work here.
” I have also directed the Head of the Civil Service to work with the Ministry of Health and the Civil Service Commission to absorb them as quickly as possible so that we can have permanent staff here. We don’t want to have equipment here, yet we don’t have the manpower to operate them”.
He urged medical personnel to sensitize the people on kidney-related ailments and measures to checkmate its occurrence and directed that the Ministry of Health collaborate with the Ministry of Information and Office of the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor to undertake the sensitization.
Eno appreciated the gesture of RCCG General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adeboye and his wife Folu, in partnering with the state government through the Church’s humanitarian arm, ‘His Love Foundation’, to provide medical services to Akwa Ibom people, especially those hopelessly plagued with the ravaging kidney diseases.
He described the dialysis facility provided as a critical healthcare intervention and charged other religious and business organisations to emulate such robust corporate social responsibility to partner with the government in developing the state.
“The huge investment here today speaks loudly to the fact that government needs to partner with the other layers of society to ensure that we advance development across sectors of our economy.
“This is pioneered by the church, and I also expect all of the people doing business in Akwa Ibom to rise to the occasion and partner with the State Government to provide facilities that will stand in their names and show that they are resident and doing business around these communities.
“Don’t give us money, but you can do what you have seen here today. We will give you the enabling environment, we will do the building, and we will provide the staff if you partner with us in your way.
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“For me, this is a clarion call on all churches to come forth and be inspired by what we have seen here today. It is a step in the very right direction”, he stated.
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Responding, the Redeemed Christian Church of God Intercontinental Overseer, Christian Social Responsibility, Pastor Idowu Iluyomade, on behalf of the Church, said the Church was driven by passion for humanity and the need to bring help to people afflicted by the scourge of kidney diseases has through the “His Love Foundation” set up 12 Dialysis Centres across Nigeria and was pleased to set the 13th in Eket, Akwa Ibom State, among other interventions.
The Commissioner for Health, Professor Augustine Umoh while expatiating on the imperative of the intervention said dialysis is one of the best ways of managing kidney failure and lauded the State Government-RCCG partnership as he affirmed the delivery of three dialysis machines, with accessories, by the church to the centre.
