The Taraba State Governor, Darius Ishaku, has said the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the shortcomings in the country’s health system.
The governor stated this on Saturday while declaring open the 2020 Physicians’ Week in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital.
The theme for the Week is; “Strategies for Recovery of the Health System during the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.”
Ishaku, who was represented by the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Innocent Vakkai, posited that the outbreak of the Coronavirus, which is threatening the world economy has further exposed the emptiness of the Nigerian health sector as samples were taken to far places for testing.
“The outbreak of COVID-19 has unravelled the inadequacies of our health system,” he stated.
He said his administration was committed to repositioning the health system in the state, saying that he has so far established two COVID-19 testing centres in the State.
He also disclosed that his government has reconstructed three General hospitals in the state and revitalised the School of Nursing and Midwifery to boost manpower in the hospitals.
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Ishaku, stressed the need to overhaul the health sector adding, “that is why my administration has invested so much in the health sector.”
Speaking earlier, the Chairman of Nigeria Medical Association in the state, Dr. Nkantah Edet, said the aim of the Physicians’ Week was to celebrate doctors and review the health system in the past year.
He commended the State government for the reforms in the health sector and called for more actions for the recovery of the health sector after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nkantah also called for the review of the remuneration of doctors and employment of new ones to balance the doctor-patient ratio in the state.
