The governor of Delta state, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa has commended the Federal Government for prompt release of basic healthcare fund while also calling for more attention also on Education.
Okowa gave this commendation when he received the executive members of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) led by Dr Francis Adedayo.
The governor said, “I thank the Federal Government for releasing the basic healthcare fund as it ought to be and I do believe that it is a way of encouraging other state governments to provide their counterpart fund and assist the poor to have access to basic healthcare.”
Okowa said that education and healthcare are two of the main ways of impacting the lives of the poor and less privileged and make the country a better place.
“Well educated and healthy people are confident people, unfortunately, the indices are not right when we look at the education and health challenges we face as a nation.
Gov. Okowa commended the NMA for recognizing his administration’s success stories in the health sector.
“Definitely, we have done so much, but there is still a lot more to be done; it is gladdening that in our first tenure, we started the contributory health scheme in the state and we thank God that the civil servants and their dependents have all keyed in.
We have begun to record successes and we hope to advance because, we actually don’t want our people to pay from their pockets when their dependents fall ill.
“Health insurance packages are not targeted at some people; we need to get the foundation right; we need to start in a way we can sustain it and for now, we can only engage in only the basic healthcare package; we will continue to sustain what we have at the moment.”
He congratulated the NMA for working towards the second health summit, stating they deserve all the support they need for them to get it right for the health sector.
Earlier, Dr Adedayo who led the NMA delegation said that they were in Asaba to intimate the governor about their plan for the second health summit.
He said that having a medical doctor as a governor in the person of Gov, Okowa is of immense value to the Medical Association.
“We are here to congratulate the governor for the giant strides his administration has recorded, especially with the health insurance scheme, we are happy for the provision of mobile field hospitals.
“We are also here to brief him about the forthcoming second National Health Summit as the only Medical Governor in the country, because, he is the face of the National Health Summit,” the NMA President said.
