Edo hospitals short of doctors — Obaseki

The Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, has disclosed that the state’s health sector needs over 200 new doctors to effectively man the primary healthcare centres across the state.

Obaseki disclosed this on Monday when he received the new executives of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) in the state who were on a courtesy visit to his office.

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“We need more than 200 new doctors in the system, who will be in the community to take charge of the Primary Healthcare Centres across the state and must be motivated and encouraged to stay here,” he said.

The governor noted that his administration’s focus is on how to produce more doctors by strengthening the basic education system and giving quality education to produce more doctors for the state.

Obaseki called for doctors’ collaboration to sustain reforms in the healthcare sector, assuring a resilient and equitable system to deliver efficient, quality and affordable healthcare services to the Edo people.

He said he is pursuing a holistic reform in the sector and putting in place mechanisms to discourage manpower for healthcare delivery from leaving the country.

“We need more doctors, particularly with the way the doctors are travelling out of the country in search of greener pastures. What we need is to strengthen the institutions that produce doctors. We are strengthening our educational system to produce more doctors,” Obaseki said.

He said his administration is tackling the dearth of modern medical equipment, decaying healthcare infrastructure, inadequate personnel and poor funding associated with the sector in the past.

“The system we inherited and structure put in place at that time was meant for that time but today the society has changed, leading to the reforms in our medical sector.

“This is why I brought down the central hospital to decentralize the healthcare system in the state, ensuring that there is at least one healthcare facility in every community to ensure that healthcare is closer to the people,” the governor said.

Earlier, the president of the association, Dr Uaboi Ovbiagele, commended the governor for the reforms in the healthcare sector, pledging the association’s support to sustain reforms in the sector.