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George Onyejiuwa, Owerri
The Senate Committee on Federal Health Institutions has commended the Medical Director of the Federal Medical Centre Owerri, Dr Kingsley Achigbu, over the projects being executed by his administration at the health facility.
This came on the heels of the pledge made by the committee to ensure that more funds would be made available in the 2021 Appropriation Act, to enable the management of the medical centre to complete ongoing projects necessary for effective and quality healthcare delivery.
The chairman of the Senate committee, Senator Ibrahim Olorigbe, who was accompanied by other members on an oversight function to federal medical facilities said: “The management and board have been able to adapt effectively especially in the management of COVID-19. We have seen their treatment centre.
We have also inspected the ongoing projects like the MRI building, the molecular laboratory building, the trauma centre building, the new Accident and Emergency Ward, the specialist clinic, the new paediatric emergency ward and we are impressed by what we have seen so far because the projects are almost 80 per cent completed. So, we will use the 2021 Appropriation Act to ensure that these projects are completed, to enable the management deliver effective healthcare to the people of the state and its environs.”
Meanwhile, the Medical Director, Dr. Achigbu, has called on the Federal Government to upgrade the FMC, Owerri to the status of a teaching hospital to make it possible to conduct clinical teaching and research.
His words: “We calling on the Federal Government to upgrade the FMC, Owerri, to the status of a teaching hospital to conduct teaching and research and this will also attract more professionals. This would not be possible right now if it remains just a medical centre. The current FMC is even bigger and more equipped than some teaching hospitals. As you have seen for yourselves, the trauma centre which we are building is the only one in the entire South East. So, if upgraded to a teaching hospital, we will be able to offer more specialist healthcare delivery services and train more manpower for the health sector.”
