Ihedioha Unfolds Manifesto to Imo People: Promises to Establish Medical Village
The standard bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State, Chief Emeka Ihedioha, on Wednesday said that if elected the governor of the state, his administration would establish a medical village using the Imo State University Teaching Hospital Orlu as nucleus for its activities.
Chief Ihedioha who made the disclosure at the formal presentation of his manifesto in Owerri, stated that his government would also establish three specialist centers to be located at Owerri, Orlu and Okigwe that would be developed as Centre of excellence in various fields of medicine.
According to him, the new government would within the first 100 days engaged on critical assessment of all health institutions in the state with a view to rehabilitating the health sector based on World Health Organization (WHO) framework and specification.
He further disclosed that, Governor Rochas Okorocha’s administration engaged the services of three medical consultants, 30 Resident doctors, 9 pharmacists, 11 medical Laboratory scientists and 220 Nurses servicing 19 General Hospitals in the state as at 2014.
The Deputy Speaker House of Representatives regretted that, out of the three medical consultants in the state, one was promoted to Permanent Secretary while the other two retired from the public service in February this year.
He said, “Our government on assumption of office will immediately buy into the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) as a means of making health care affordable to Imo people. We will equally domesticate the recently passed National Health Act to ensure free maternal and child health programmes”.
“We will ensure that highly trained health professionals and consultants are attracted into the health sector and well motivated with appropriated conditions of service to stimulated enhanced result and best practice”.
On educational sector, Ihedioha said that, his government would embark on the training and re-training of teachers to enhance their skills and competencies by restoring their pride. He stated that the administration would liaise with the National Teachers Institute and other Multi-lateral agencies for the training and re-retraining of teachers.
He therefore, said the government will offer qualitative non-discriminating free education to the three high or institutions in the state.
Ihedioha noted that the state had been adjudged as educationally backward state, describing the current performance of the state in West African Examination Council (WAEC) and the national Examination Council (NECO) in the last four years as abysmal.
According to him, the state currently engaged only 87 mathematics 20 further Mathematics, 130 English, 102 Physics and 92 Chemistry teachers in 548 Junior and senior secondary schools. The manifesto covers the areas of rule of law, agricultural development and rehabilitation of moribund industries in the state.
