By Our Correspondent
The operators of General Hospital Obudu, one of the privatized medical outfits in Cross River State say the facility which has been undergoing renovation will soon begin offering medical services to the public.
The hospital whose operations will be undertaken by St. Luke’s General Hospital Consortium under a public private partnership arrangement with the Cross River State Government CrossRiverWatch, gathered has stocked over 50 percent of the basic required medical equipment.
“We have most of the basic furniture and equipment ready. This include the X-Ray processor, Sterilizer, Phototherapy machine, digital baby scale, Oxygen set, Suction units and several others. We are waiting for the arrival of the rest towards the end of this month or early next month, to begin operation” says Dr. Evelyn Ikpi, the Director of Administration of the medical facility in an interview with CrossRiverWatch.
The facility, one of the two privatized by the immediate past administration in the state led by Senator Liyel Imoke was razed in an inferno over a decade ago which left Obudu without the services of a government owned hospital. A tour round the facility by this reporter showed improvements from the last visit back in November 2015.
However, Evelyn says there are teething challenges in Manpower as they are yet to recruit a Pharmacist and Radiographer ahead of the hospital’s commissioning. She also says the epileptic power situation is not encouraging and called on relevant authorities to come to their aid.
On manpower requirement, she averred that around 30 staff will be needed to run the hospital even as she hoped that “By God’s grace, we should have people who are interested in saving lives.”
Furthermore, she said the initial challenges of communal hostility has been handled and lampooned some officials of the local government council for their lackadaisical attitude towards helping the operators achieve their set goals in reviving the hospital.
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