Minister of Health, Professor Babatunde Osotimehin, has said the Federal Government had taken proactive measures to prevent and confront the swine flu, should there be any outbreak of the A(H1N1) influenza in Nigeria.
Osotimehin also said government would upgrade the Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
He implored Nigerians to treat as a matter of national importance, the issue of the A(H1N1) Influenza.
“We should as a nation, take proactive, preventive measures to counter an extensive outbreak of this new threat to mankind. Let me assure the populace that the Federal Government of Nigeria is well prepared to confront this problem headlong, in the event of an outbreak in our country,” he said.
Osotimehin said this in Abeokuta, during the commissioning of capital projects and unveiling of Late Professor Thomas Adeoye Lambo’s statue at the hospital.
He said government would continue to be alive to its responsibilities even in the face of the current global economic realities, in providing the enabling environment for attainment of good health.
He expressed government’s willingness to up-grade the hospital to an institute and to five-star status along with others, such that they would be empowered to provide the highest level of service.
Provost and Medical Director of the Hospital, Dr. T.A Adamson, said the hospital, which was established in 1944, had a tripartite mandate of treatment service provision, training of middle level and upper level mental health professionals and research into contemporary issues in psychiatric and allied fields.
He said the hospital had offered succour to diverse individuals from every strata of the society, including individuals from West African states, with every type of psychological problems.
Adamson said the inaugurated capital projects came into being through internally generated funds, as the Federal Government’s policy on return of unspent allocations affected completion of some of the projects.
Some of the capital projects commissioned by the minister include research building, CT-Scan/X-ray structure, occupational therapy building and the hope building at Aro and Lantoro Annex and the unveiling of the Late Professor Thomas Adeoye statue who was the pioneer and foundation medical director of the hospital.
May112009