By Francis Ogar
Calabar
Medical Director/CEO of Federal Neuron Psychiatric Hospital (FNPH) Calabar, Cross River state, Dr. Joseph Okegbe, has pledged to transform the mental illness institution to a centre of excellence for psychiatric treatment.
He also said that his special attention would be to educate the public on psychiatric conditions and to train specialists that would take over the saddle of leadership after retirement.
The medical director made the remark yesterday while speaking with journalists on his plan for the hospital.
“We hope to improve more and do better than what we have achieved and hope that government would implement the budget. My blue print is to accomplish our dream in making this hospital a centre of excellence for Psychiatric treatment.
“Other areas of special attention would depend on government releases and funding from both the government and non-governmental organizations,” he said.
He appealed to Cross River state government to assist the hospital and stressed that 90 percent of the patients who come to the hospital for treatment were indigenes.
According to him, successive state governments have been neglecting the institution over the years with the chain that the hospital was a federal owned establishment. We call on the state government to help by giving logistic support especially now that the state health insurance scheme tagged Ayade Care is about to kick start to enable us provide quality health care services since psychiatric is part of public health.
Our major challenge is that the hospital is not properly funded to take care of patients especially in the areas of laboratory investigation and highly specific tests such as magnetic resource imaging.
