Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, has called for special attention to be paid to the health and education sectors to enhance positive impact on the citizenry.
The Governor made the call when the executive of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) led by Dr Francis Adedayo paid him a courtesy visit in Asaba.
According to him, the best way to impact on the poor is to improve on their health and education.
“Well educated and healthy people are confident people. Unfortunately, the indices are not right when we look at the education and health challenges we face as a nation.
“I thank the Federal Government for releasing the basic healthcare fund as it ought to be and I do believe that it is a way of encouraging other state governments to provide their counterpart fund and assist the poor to have access to basic healthcare.”
Governor Okowa commended the NMA for recognising his administration’s success stories in the health sector saying, “definitely, we have done so much, but there is still a lot more to be done; it is gladdening that in our first tenure, we started the contributory health scheme in the state and we thank God that the civil servants and their dependents   have all keyed in. “We have begun to record successes and we hope to advance because, we actually don’t want our people to pay from their pockets when their dependents fall  ill.
“Health insurance packages are not targeted at some people, we need to get the foundation right; we need to start in a way we can sustain it and for now, we can only engage in the basic healthcare package. We will continue to sustain what we have at the moment,” the governnor said.
He congratulated the NMA for working towards the second health summit, noting that they deserve all the support they need for them to get it right for the health sector.
Earlier, Dr Adedayo had said they were in Asaba to intimate the Governor about their plan for the second health summit of the country, noting that as the only Medical Doctor who is a Governor in the country, Governor Okowa is valued high by the NMA.
“We are here to congratulate the Governor for the giant strides his administration has recorded, especially with the health insurance scheme. We are happy for the provision of mobile field hospitals and we are here to brief him about the forthcoming second National Health Summit as the only Medical Governor in the country, because, he is the face of the National Health Summit,” the NMA President said.

Albert Ograka, Asaba