Governorship of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, in Imo State, Mr. Okey Ezeh, has assured Imo people that the comprehensive health policy which his blueprint for the rebirth of the state named the Imo Marshal Plan has articulated will promote wellness, stop disease and restore the collapsed health care system in the state.
Speaking on Sunday in Owerri as Special Guest of Honour at the 2018 Family Day Celebration of the Nigerian Medical Association, Owerri Zone, Ezeh who was represented by the Director of Media and Publicity in his campaign organisation, Collins Opurozor, said the statistic of 21% maternal and infant mortality in Imo State is unacceptable and must be reversed.
“It is estimated that two out of every twenty-five women die of breast cancer disease every year in Imo state. It is worrisome that the government of the day has done nothing to address this. Awareness is key and detecting it early makes it possible to get a cure. There is no reason we can’t have cancer-screening centers in every market across the state for early detection. We must protect our women,” Ezeh promised.
The renowned investment advisor maintained that the primary reason for the existence of government is to protect lives and promote healthy living, saying that the pre-political state of human existence was nasty and poor, and human life was short.
According to him, “The health components of our blueprint are driven by a determination to set targets for intervention in order to reduce the prevalence of communicable and non-communicable diseases, and the prevalence of child and maternal morbidity and mortality, as well as to increase life expectancy through an integrated, reformed, restructured and functional healthcare system.
“The personnel and institutions that will assist the people by ensuring access to sound healthcare will be in place along with a functional disease control agency for surveillance and evaluation,” he averred.
Earlier in his remarks, the chairman of the occasion, Dr. I. Agbarakwe, urged the medical practitioners to take active part in politics, insisting that poor governance has caused more deaths than anything else in the state. He also unveiled a political roadmap for the Association, which aims at accelerating the rate of political participation by the members.
