The governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr Umo Eno, has commissioned a dialysis centre donated by Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) at Immanuel General Hospital, in Eket local government area.
Speaking during the commissioning, the governor announced the approval for the establishment of 10 new centres in each of the ten federal constituencies of the state.
He charged the commissioner for health and other critical stakeholders to ensure the delivery of the dialysis centres by June 2024/
He emphasised that the facilities should be FUNCTIONAL.
In the meantime, ordered the deployment of relevant personnel from the state hospitals to the centre donate to ensure the facility is not underutilised due to a lack of personnel.
Besides, he said he had given the commissioner for health the approval to employ qualified people to man the centre.
“I have also directed the head of the civil service to work with the ministry of health and the civil service commission to absorb them as quickly as possible so that we can have permanent staff here. We don’t want to have equipment here, yet we don’t have the manpower to operate them,” he added.
Thereafter, Eno applauded the church for partnering with the state government through its humanitarian arm, ‘His Love Foundation’ to provide medical facilities to the Akwa Ibom people, especially those plagued with kidney diseases.
“The huge investment here speaks loudly to the fact that the government needs to partner with the other layers of the society to ensure that we advance development across sectors of our economy.
“This is pioneered by the church, and I also expect all of the people doing business in Akwa Ibom to rise to the occasion and partner with the State Government to provide facilities that will stand in their names and show that they are residents and doing business around these communities,” he said.
He called on other stakeholder to replicate what the RCCG had done.
“Don’t give us money, but you can do what you have seen here today. We will give you the enabling environment, we will do the building, and we will provide the staff if you partner with us in your way.
“For me, this is a clarion call on all churches to come forth and be inspired by what we have seen here today. It is a step in the very right direction,” the governor said.
In his remarks, the RCCG Intercontinental Overseer, Christian Social Responsibility, (CSR) Pastor Idowu Iluyomade said the church, driven by a passion for humanity and the need to bring help to people afflicted by the scourge of kidney diseases, had already established 12 dialysis centres in Nigeria.
Iluyomade explained that the Church was pleased to set up the 13th in Eket.
For his part, the commissioner for health, Prof. Augustine Umoh, described dialysis as one of the best ways of managing kidney failure and affirmed the delivery of three dialysis machines, with accessories, by the RCCG to the centre.
