BENIN CITY- Edo State Deputy Governor (Dr.) Pius Egberanmwen Odubu has encouraged medical doctors with different specialty to pull their resources together to form a mega hospital in order to stand a better chance of attracting financing as well as deliver first class service that can best serve the public.
The Deputy Governor made the remark at the 2015 Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference by the state chapter of the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria (AGPMPN) in Benin City.
Dr. Pius Odubu urged the medical doctors to strike a delicate balance between profit making and service to the people especially the indigent in the society.
He lamented a situation where indigent patients suffer detention in the hospital as a result of their inability to pay hospital bills.
The deputy governor emphasized that it is necessary for medical doctors to offer free services to the poor just as it is in some other professions.
He noted that the theme of the conference, ‘Universal Access to Health Care in Nigeria” is in tandem with the desire of Edo State government to bring affordable and efficient health care services to the people.
While acknowledging the doctors are in practice to make a living, Dr. Pius Odubu encouraged them to remain faithful to their Hippocratic Oath to preserve life and restore health.
In a keynote address, the Chief Medical Director of the UBTH Prof. Michael Ibadin said there is a direct relationship between the well-being of a state and her productivity.
He identified poverty, high level of illiteracy, tradition among others is factors militarily against access to health care in Nigeria.
The former National President, Nigerian Medical Association Dr. Osahon Enabulele asserted that a lot of Nigerians still spend over 7 percent of their income on health which is not enough to drive any healthy care system.
The association’s state chairman Dr. Otamere Aigbogun said the conference is to highlight the importance accessible health care delivery and how it can be improved upon.
The event featured goodwill messages from stakeholders.