Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has restated the readiness of his administration to sustain collaboration and cooperation between the government and University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.
The governor, who made the disclosure while hosting the UCH Management during a courtesy visit to his office, said the collaboration would help raise the bar of healthcare delivery in Oyo State.
A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Taiwo Adisa, quoted the governor as saying the government would make the UCH annex at Sepeteri functional.
Governor Makinde, while addressing the UCH team, led by the Board Chairman, Ibrahim Shettima, said his administration would continue to leverage on institutions like the UCH to improve the secondary health institutions in the state.
This was just as the governor promised his government would continue to support UCH in any way, stating that the state was quite appreciative of what the institution had been doing and would love to sustain the productive collaboration and partnership with the frontline health institution.
Makinde said: “UCH has a history of collaboration and cooperation with the people and government of Oyo State. So, I want to thank you for that and ask that this should be sustained.
“It has been a history of firsts for us in Oyo State. The Cocoa House building was started around 1959 and commissioned in 1965 and when we look at the area today, the skyline has not changed. So, we ask ourselves how do we sustain the vision of the leaders that brought such massive developments to this part of the world? Western Nigerian Television (WNTV) also happened to be the first television station on the continent. Historically, I was told the station came into being before the southern part of France had the opportunity to watch TV. Today, we watch DSTV and almost every home cell in Nigeria is paying some money to South Africa who came behind us.
“The same thing is happening in the health sector. Historically, I also read that UCH, in the evaluation that was done in the late 50s among the Commonwealth countries, was rated far higher than the University College in London. So, we have basically derailed from the trajectory, which our founding fathers set for us as a country but that is not the end of the story. The story is that we have to hold ourselves responsible and accountable to change the narrative; to put in our best such that two years from now, we should see how we have leveraged on that to raise the bar.”
Makinde called on UCH management to avail the government of things at the hospital’s annex in Sepeteri, Saki East Local Government, noting that his administration would ensure the facility is fully function.
Earlier, Shettima said the purpose of the visit was to cement the relationship between UCH and the Oyo State Government.
