Gyang Bere, Jos
The Director of Advocacy and Communications, CHAN, Mr. David, Onomoase Omorebokhae, has disclosed that mission hospitals are complementing federal and state governments’ efforts at providing efficient and affordable health services delivery in the country.
Omorebokhae, who made the remark during an interview with journalists in Jos, revealed that mission hospitals in the country render quality and efficient services to complement government efforts at saving lives.
He said: “We are not competing with government hospitals, but we are complementing their efforts; we are only helping out. We tell politicians to help us and support us by extending some of their constituency projects to mission hospitals. Government facilities alone cannot handle health problems of Nigeria.
“That is why we are supporting them; we have never said we are better than government hospitals. For one, we can’t pay what the government hospitals might be is paying their staff. We are only here to help out. A lot of people, for instance, would have gone mad in the streets today; a lot of people would have fallen sick and died. Yet, these are people that queue to vote for people in government.”
David advocated national and state legislation that will make governments at various levels give out a token from their annual budget to assist faith-based hospitals to improve on their health service delivery in the country.
“We have met different Senate, House of Representatives and state Houses of Assembly health committees; we have formed a coalition with our Muslim brothers and together, met the National Assembly to consider setting aside a percentage of the national budget to help the faith-based hospitals in their efforts at reaching the unreached with health services.
“We have gone to the Senate as Christians and met a brick wall; we have also gone there with the Muslims who also run faith-based health organisations. We have approach the National Assembly for a legislation that will nudge the Federal Government to consider assisting faith-based hospitals across the country for the strategic services they offer, but the changes in government and individuals in government have also always been a challenge.
“We are talking to the National Assembly; we are talking to the Federal Ministry of Health and we now have some level of partnership with governments at the federal and state levels. We have continued to push but we are not getting the desire attention compared to the services we are rendering to the country; we are not getting the reciprocating support. That is why we are appealing to the government and wealthy Nigerians not excluding various corporate organisations to assist us.”
He explained that as the country grapple with security challenges across the country, particularly in the North East, mission hospitals had played a critical role in saving lives.
“When you go to some of the remote areas and see the level of healthcare challenges the people face, one will begin to feel the challenges they face,” he said.
David said CHAN facilities had been over stretched in the North East with most of the clinics bombed and destroyed with equipment and facilities worth millions of naira lost.
According to him, “insurgent have destroyed quite a number of our facilities in the North East, but we are still there. Just two months ago, one of our doctors was there to carry out operation; after his second day at the facility, the insurgents walk in and bombed the clinic. That was last April.”
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