By Nuel Suji – Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu has advocated preventive medical practice in the country as a sure way of reducing the high mortality rate, especially in children.
Comrade Shaibu made the call when he declared open,the Third Biennial General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the Nigerian Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases in Benin, with the theme, ‘Controlling Infectious Diseases as a key to Sustainable Development in a Challenged Economy’.
The deputy Governor who was also chairman of the conference regretted that millions of children die yearly due to preventable diseases and lack of adequate medical centers to take care of emergencies.
According to him, to address the trend, the Obaseki administration has decided to ensure the provision of fully functional general hospitals in all the eighteen local government areas of the state to reduce the burden on the few ones available.
He called on the participants to make the conference communique available to the state government as part of its working paper towards repositioning of the health sector in the state.
On his part, the president, Nigerian Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases ,Professor Osawaru Oviawe called on government at all levels to be proactive by having prepaid epidemic centers to effectively tackle any outbreak, instead of always waiting for disaster to strike before acting.
