As part of measures to boost healthcare in Enugu State, Governor Peter Mbah has signed into law a bill to establish a teaching hospital in the coal city state.
Signing the Enugu State University of Medical and Applied Sciences (SUMAS) Teaching Hospital Bill 2024 into law on Tuesday, Mbah promised to expedite action to actualise the facility immediately to provide quality training and healthcare services in the Enugu North part of the state and the state in general.
He commended the State House of Assembly for accelerating action on the processing and passage of the bill, saying establishing SUMAS Teaching Hospital was in line with his manifesto.
“What we have done by signing into law the Enugu State University of Medical and Applied Sciences Teaching Hospital Bill is that we now have in place a legal framework to immediately begin to put in place all that is required to upgrade SUMAS to a teaching hospital. This is part of our campaign promises and we are committed to delivering on that expeditiously,” the governor said.
“We believe that the importance and significance of siting a teaching hospital in our Enugu North zone can never be lost on us. So, we are not going to spend any time in making sure that everything necessary and required to upgrade and get the teaching hospital operational is put in place. With this Law, we are going to redouble our commitment and our efforts to achieve that.”
According to Mbah, the state government would need the cooperation of the hospital’s governing council and the management.
Reiterating his administration’s commitment to education, the governor said the state would spend 33 per cent of the budget on the sector.
“We are going to continue to support you and we are also going to continue to count on your experience, network, and profile in raising resources to actualize the project.
“This year alone, we are going to spend 33 per cent of our budget on education. This underscores the importance of education to this administration. So, be sure to come to us whenever there is a need. We are going to support you because we are interested in education and we are investing heavily in it,” he stated.
Also speaking, the Speaker of the House, Uchenna Ugwu, said the parliament was ever ready to fast-track every executive bill that would impact positively on the state and its people.
