Oyetola Reiterates Commitment To Health Care Delivery, Flags Off Health Week

Osun State Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, has declared that one of the integral policies of his administration is health care delivery, as a way of building a productive and prosperous society.

The Governor disclosed this on Friday while flagging off Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Week in Osogbo.

He averred that the intervention, which was part of development agenda of his government, was a holistic initiative that took care of the people in all spheres.

The governor, who was represented by his Deputy, Benedict Alabi, stated that his administration would stop at nothing to ensure that mothers and children always get the best healthcare service in the state.

Oyetola, however, decried the high infant mortality rate in Nigeria, which he said called for concerted efforts by all as a collective responsibility.

He, therefore, enjoined health care workers in Osun to continue to educate mothers in the state on the need to judiciously utilize government facilities, including the 332 primary health care centres across the state, the Osun health insurance scheme and many other interventions.

"This event is another testament to the resolve of our government to deliver sustainable healthcare to our people. It offers another opportunity to sensitize our mothers on their roles and responsibilities to themselves and their children and to interact with them first-hand to elicit their inputs as we constantly find new ways to serve them and our future generation better.

 "Ours is a government that is irredeemably committed to serving our people and we have constantly demonstrated this through our Development Agenda which is crafted to render stellar services in all sectors. The health of our people is a critical component of the Agenda as we regard health as the springboard and foundation of all our interventions.

 "Our health programmes have maternal, newborn and children components and they are put together to target our newborns and children and take care of them as they grow. The Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Week we are observing today is proof of the importance we place on giving the best healthcare services to our people and while drastically reducing maternal and child mortality rate.

 "From the revitalization of Nine General Hospitals and 332 Primary Health Centres, one per ward across the State, to the institution of National Insurance Scheme, to the implementation of the revised Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) and Consolidated Health Workers Salary Structure (CONHESS) for healthcare workers in the State, among others, we are consciously building a healthy and strong young population and empowering our youths and adults for a collective task of state and nation building. Let me emphasise that all these health interventions have maternal, newborn and children’s components and imports.

 "We are doing all of these, conscious that our mothers are the channels for the future that we seek and that our newborns and our infants are the hopes and the face of the sustainable Osun that our Development Agenda is designed to build."

Earlier in his welcome address, the Special Adviser to the Governor on public health, Dr Olasiji Olamiju, hinted that the health week Programme provided an opportunity to improve the physical and mental health of children, through the administration of vitamin A to children of age 0 to five.

Other opportunities according to him include immunisation against different diseases, HIV, family planning counseling as well as deworming exercise.