22nd August, 2014
Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom says the state government will train 150 doctors in specialist courses abroad to man 20th Anniversary Specialist Hospital in the state.
Akpabio made this known when he received, Dr Femi Thomas, Executive Secretary of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), in Uyo on Friday.
He said that the doctors would be trained on heart surgery, kidney and liver transplant, among others.
The governor said the 20th Anniversary Hospital named after the celebration of Akwa Ibom at 20 in 2007, would be a well-equipped specialist hospital on completion.
“The purpose of the hospital is to stop capital flight abroad for treatment,” Akpabio said.
Akpabio appealed to the striking doctors in the country to be patriotic by calling off their strike, especially during this trying time of Ebola disease to save lives of Nigerians.
He said that his administration was ready to key into the NHIS programme and would like to contribute 60 per cent of the cost of the insurance for the people.
“It is a programme that all states in the country should get involved in. The more sensitisation, the more people you are going to have on the programme.
“So, be assured of our state continuous cooperation to the programme,” Akpabio said.
The governor commended the NHIS chief executive for touching the lives of Nigerians through the programme.
Thomas had earlier said that they were in the state to launch the new community-based health insurance initiative of the state government.
He said NHIS would be ready to spend its resources in support of the health insurance scheme at the rural level in line with the transformation agenda of the Federal Government.
The executive secretary said the scheme had introduced various programmes such as Mobile Health Insurance, Adoption Platform and Culture Health Insurance, among others.
According to him, the essence of the programmes is to ensure that many people have access to the insurance scheme.
He appealed to the state government to direct health and tertiary institutions in the state to patronise NHIS.