Kogi State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Idris Omede, has assured that plans are on course to introduce houseman-ship programmes at the Kogi State Specialist Hospital, Lokoja, for graduate medical doctors, pharmacists and laboratory scientists in order to boost the man-power needs of the hospital.
The Commissioner made this disclosure when members of the board of the hospital paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Lokoja, recently.
Congratulating the board chairman on his well-deserved appointment, the commissioner reiterated the commitment of the state government under Capt. Idris Wada to make health-care a priority.
The commissioner urged the board to manage issues as they crop up without letting them escalate, assuring that plans were in the pipeline to improve health facilities across the state.
Earlier in his address, the board chairman of the hospital, Alhaji Sule Aliyu, had said the aim of the visit was to intimate the commissioner on the prevailing challenges of the hospital.
He appealed to the state government to look into the challenges faced by the hospital with a view to addressing them.
Alhaji Aliyu outlined the demands of the hospital to include; the need for an administrative and clinical building, estimated to cost N15.076 million, pointing out that the building would create room for doctors’ consulting rooms which are equally used for administrative purposes.
He also called for the construction of residential accommodation for doctors, which he said would cost about N64.8 million.
The board chairman stressed the need for an oxygen plant in the hospital, which according to him, would enhance effective response to emergencies and give life-line to patients in critical conditions.
While applauding the state government for its many interventions in the health sector, Alhaji Aliyu noted that the State Specialist Hospital is equipped with the state-of-the-art medical facilities comparable to its equals around the country.
He called for adequate staffing of the hospital to enhance the efficiency of its services to the people, noting that the hospital is deficient in some critical areas, especially manpower.
Culled From The Graphic
