EDO govt. plans to build 250 primary health centres, says Obaseki

Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo has assured of his administration’s plan to build 250 primary healthcare centres across 18 local government areas of the state.

Obaseki gave the assurance at the fourth Edo Youth Summit on Wednesday in Benin, as part of activities to mark his second term inauguration.

According to him, the administration has expanded the initial construction of 20 primary healthcare centres across 18 local government areas in the pilot scheme to 60, with the hope to reach 250 in the next one and half years

“Our hope is that every ward has a minimum of one primary health-care centre, they must be standard, there must be solar to provide 24-hours electricity.

“There must be water mad security, and we have cost it and at best one of them will cost us N50 million, but what is most important is that every community has a healthcare system that works with technology.

“Federal, state and local governments build primary healthcare centres and NGOs also build and at the end of the day nobody has a complete record of what has been built and who is coordinating.

“As far as the building has been put in place and somebody has made his money, it is assumed that you have a primary healthcare centre. They are usually not connected to the community and they don’t have light and water.

“How can a woman give birth while midwives are using torch light, that is the situation we have found,” He said.

The governor said his administration was working tirelessly to change the narratives and make the primary healthcare system accessible and affordable.