Godwin Obaseki, the governor of Edo State, said on Wednesday that the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 had an impact on the notable health sector accomplishments of his administration. The governor stated that the development of a responsive and decentralized healthcare system became essential due to the start of the pandemic and the unstable nature of the healthcare system, not only in Edo but throughout Nigeria.
Speaking at the reopened Edo State College of Health Sciences and Technology in Benin City, Governor Obaseki explained that his personal experience with COVID-19 motivated him to rebuild the institution, which was founded 60 years ago, in order to provide medical professionals with the training they need to handle crises like the pandemic. He continued by saying that by setting up multiple Primary Healthcare Centers, his government came up with the concept of decentralizing healthcare services throughout the state. Obaseki reaffirmed that he had no remorse about dismantling the Benin Central Hospital complex because ten fully functional primary health centers had been set up to serve the local communities in the three Benin metropolitan local government districts.
He mentioned that the Stella Obasanjo Hospital has been modernized by his government and outfitted with state-of-the-art amenities to compete with any hospital in the nation. In order to guarantee that the state would never run out of medical professionals in any area of the system, the governor went on to say that the renovated College of Health Sciences and Technology was expected to train healthcare professionals in every sector. Obaseki clarified, “COVID-19 opened my eyes to the state of healthcare in Edo State and Nigeria. What was frightening was not COVID-19 itself but our ability to respond to the pandemic.
“I was discussing with a friend during COVID-19 and said, if something serious happened, we couldn’t just leave Nigeria, even with all the wealth and planes available for treatment.
“The lesson I learnt from COVID-19 is that we must build our healthcare system. Healthcare is not just about hospitals and infrastructure; it is a system built around people trained to deliver services. Unfortunately, our Schools of Nursing and Colleges of Health Sciences had no accreditation and were shut down.
“I had to bring down the Central Hospital, and I have no regrets. In its
place, we have over 10 primary health centres serving the population one hospital once covered,” Obaseki said.
According to him, “In 2020, I vowed that if God allowed me to survive COVID-19, I would refurbish all health institutions in the state. Look at what we have achieved in Oredo, Amagba, Evbuotubu, and across the state with these health centres.
