The Enugu State Government says it has embarked on massive construction and renovation of health institutions in the state to ensure effective healthcare delivery.

The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Fintan Ekochin made the disclosure in Enugu on Friday during a meeting with the Enugu State House of Assembly Committee on Health.

Ekochin said that a lot of renovation was ongoing in the ministry adding that they had asphalted the ministry premises.

The commissioner said that the state had renovated some hospitals in the state including General Hospital, Agbani and the Poly Clinic, Enugu

He said the state Diagnostic Centre was almost completed as installations of equipment were ongoing.

He explained that the ministry was looking for partnership that would help them to maintain the facilities in the centre adding that the ministry had no resources to do that.

The commissioner said that the School of Health, Oji-River had been upgraded from Senior Community Health Extension Worker (CHEW) to Highest National Diploma (HND) programme.

He also said that the state had been nominated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) among the states that would be repositioned in terms of Maternal and Child Care programme.

He expressed satisfaction that a good number of people in the state had started enjoying free child and maternal health care.

The commissioner said that the major challenge facing the ministry was discrepancies on workers’ salaries.

He said that workers at the state teaching hospitals earn more salary than those in the ministry and parastatals.

In his remark, the Chairman, Assembly Committee on Health, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ogbuabor commended the ministry for a job well done.

Ogbuabor encouraged the management to keep standard irrespective of inadequate manpower.

He advised the management to facilitate a meeting with the state governor before the year runs out to chart a way forward.

The chairman said that the committee would visit the ministry project sites for supervision. (NAN)

– Nov. 9, 2018 @ 14:32 GMT |