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.
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