Buhari commissions projects in Edo

THE multi-billion naira 200-bed Accident and Emergency unit of the Benin Central Hospital headlined the projects of the outgoing Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State that were commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday in the state.

Other projects were the 6-lane Siluko road, complete with street lights, walkways and underground drains; and the New Era College that has now been renamed after a former governor of the state, Chief Samuel Ogbemudia.

At the commissioning of the 6-lane Siluko road, the President said “I thank the Governor for inviting me, not once, not twice to come to share his success. By your reaction here, I know you understand and you are grateful for the personal sacrifices that he made.

“Personally, in the sense that he could have built a comfortable Government House and remain there, watching you to sort things out the best way you could, otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to build this road.

“I am very impressed with the professional description by the Commissioner, how he has done the drainage and how he has done the road to make it last. This shows great commitment and God almighty will reward you for your good intentions and for your love for your constituency.”

Governor Oshiomhole in his remark said the only way to show equality among men was for government to provide facilities for both the rich and the poor.

Oshiomhole noted that successive administration had patched the central hospital, but he decided to build the hospital instead of erecting a new government house.

He noted the hospital was built following his conviction that public healthcare facilities should not be inferior to private health facilities.

“I almost wept when I first visited this hospital. What I found here was shocking and I concluded that even if a healthy man visited the hospital, the healthy would be admitted the next day.

“This hospital is fitted with the latest technology in health care delivery. This hospital will not be run as public service.

“So, subject to what the next governor will do, my position is that this hospital will not be run in the way that the public service is run‎. Doctors will not be paid on the basis of prescribed salary that does not discriminate between doctors who work and doctors who do not work.

“From what we see elsewhere, you are paid according to your productivity. We need to create a new remuneration system that seeks to reconcile effort with reward.”

On the new 200-bed Central Hospital, Oshiomhole told the President that the old Central Hospital was built in 1902, 114 years ago and “rather than do piecemeal renovation, we decided to build a new hospital.

“We demolished a portion of the old hospital built in 1902 and built this new hospital.
My own idea is that public health institutions should not be inferior to private health institutions.”

The President also inspected the Queen Ede gully erosion site reclamation done by the Oshiomhole government.