Edo govt clears air on Benin Central Hospital, says facilities being upgraded

The Edo State government on Saturday said that contrary to the insinuations that it was not relocating the over 100-year-old Benin Central Hospital, the facility was being upgraded to deliver better healthcare services to the people of the state.

This was just as the state government allayed the fears in some quarters that the activities at the hospital might make healthcare inaccessible to the poor, stressing that measures had been put in place to explore all the existing health policies geared towards addressing the healthcare needs of the commoners in the state.

The Commissioner for Health, Professor Obehi Akoria, while speaking with journalists on the issue and the demolition of a section of the hospital, which the All Progressive Congress in the state claimed was to pave way for a proposed motor park, noted that the outbreak of Coronavirus had changed the global narrative such that the Stella Obasanjo Hospital in the city had to close its normal activities and be dedicated to handle the COVID-19 treatment.

She added that the Stella Obasanjo Hospittal was being restructured to be restored to its original activities of providing general healthcare services instead of its current status as COVID-19 centre.

“What we are doing is this, Edo State has Edo Health Insurance Commission, Edo State has Edo Health Insurance Scheme with various packages suited to the needs of various people in our heterogeneous population.

“We have stationed about 10 teams right there between Stella Obasanjo and Central Hospital and as patients come, they are accessing the teams because there is something called the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund which is supposed to care of the healthcare needs of the poorest of the poor via insurance and our people are already paying for insurance, the Federal Government has provided some funding, the state government has its own counterpart funding and there are many mechanisms that are on ground that will take care of the health needs of different strata of the population.

“And for the very poorest of the poor Basic Healthcare Provision Fund ensures that they get minimum package of healthcare without having to pay anything,” she said.

On the relocation of the Central Hospital, She said the hospital was only being moved to the Edo Specialist Hospital.

“In recent time, anybody who has been to the Central Hospital will see the state of the structure and infrastructure and service provision so the decision to upgrade healthcare for the citizens meant that there has to be a lateral phased movement of services from Central Hospital to Edo Specialist Hospital.

“That is where we are right now and we have been managing that to ensure that disruption of services is minimised and that we are available to respond to the obvious challenges that will arise as quickly as possible,” she added.

It would be recalled that the APC in the state had in December 2021 raised the alarm that the hospital was being demolished to pave way for a motor park and urged the state government to stop the action forthwith.