Akwa Ibom State Government has said that plans are underway to establish state-owned teaching hospital to complement and decongest University of Uyo Teaching Hospital ( UUTCH) in the state.
Speaking during the interaction between the State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno and Management Staff of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital at Government House, Uyo on Monday, the governor announced that work on the completion of the medical facility located in Onna council area would soon be completed.
Eno observed that the volume of traffic to the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital by patients was alarming noting that the high traffic to the health institution was that it is the only facility that provides services at the tertiary level to the public in the state.
He explained 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 to 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”.
Eno disclosed that his administration has improved healthcare services by revamping the primary healthcare sector for efficiency and reducing traffic on the secondary and tertiary healthcare institutions across the State.
He expressed the determination of his administration to build model hospitals in every local government across the 31 council areas before the end of his tenure.
He therefore appealed to companies and donor agencies to help fast-track track establishment of model healthcare institutions across the State as Ambulance services would be put in place in the local government areas at strategic locations as promised during his election campaigns.
“On Health Insurance I believe we have gone far, we trust that in the next one month, we will kick start the health insurance scheme in the State.
“The A-R-I-S-E Agenda is focused on Primary Healthcare and as you know secondary healthcare was 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.
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“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 Company 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.
The Chief Medical Director of, the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Professor Ememabasi Bassey, congratulated the Governor on his victory during the last governorship election in the state.
Bassey 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 with the administration in its quest to deliver on the agenda.
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.
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