Radio TNT 102.5 FM

The Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, on Monday, said his government will sustain efforts at ensuring a resilient and equitable health system to deliver quality health care services to all residents.

Obaseki gave the assurance while declaring open a five-day free medical outreach for over 4,000 residents, in collaboration with the Association of Nigeria Physicians in the Americas.

The beneficiaries during the five-day medical mission are to receive surgical interventions and treatments for heart, kidney, eye and other ailments.

Obaseki said, “For the thousands of those who are going to get care from the team, we expect that you should know that this is not a one-off service. When they are gone, we expect that you should continue to come to the centres where you got care to follow up.

“The Nigerian professionals who are working with them are going to continue to be here; come for your follow-ups. The disease that kills people does not start in one day and kill them in one day; it takes time. So, we encourage people to patronize our health care centres.

“We are going to continue to connect with our ANPA members abroad through telemedicine for them to continue to provide care for us. This mission is aimed at providing top of the range and critical medical services to ordinary Edo citizens.

“Nobody is going to come from anywhere in the world to treat us or give us care. We have to do it ourselves and we’re lucky that some of the best people providing care for us around the world are our own children.

“All we can do as a government is to encourage them to come and give back some of the knowledge and care which they are giving to the rest of the world. This mission is part of the agenda to reverse brain drain.”

On her part, the initiator of the programme and Edo First Lady, Betsy Obaseki stated, “This free medical outreach would touch thousands of lives; there are people who would have been dead if not for this programme.

“We have the best physicians and medical experts from around the world right here to provide care for our people. So, let’s take advantage of this and make the best of this,” she charged.

In his contribution, the President of ANPA, Dr Christopher Okunseri, described healthcare as a right of citizens, pledging to work with the state government to deliver on its mandate of providing quality healthcare to citizens.