BENIN CITY – The Edo State government has said that the Central Hospital on Sapele Road, Benin City, adjacent to Edo Specialist Hospital was being repositioned for quality service delivery.

The State Commissioner for Health, Professor Obehi Akoria at a press conference in Benin City weekend said that the repositioning was informed by the decay in infrastructure in the over a century old hospital.

“We have had to take a decision that that infrastructure is not good enough for Edo people.

“The direction is, we have a facility built by government adjacent to Central Hospital; so, let us make this facility available and accessible to the people of Edo State and at the same time, make that same quality of care available to people, closer to where they live.

“So, what we have done is, some of the staff who use to work in that structure have been moved into Edo Specialist Hospital to take care of the surge in attendance, which is already happening.

Her reaction was in apparent response to speculation that the hospital was being relocated to the Stella Obasanjo Hospital.

According to her, “The decision to operate health care provision for our citizens meant that there has to be a lateral movement of services from Central Hospital to Edo Specialist Hospital. That’s where we are now and we have been managing that in a way that the distruption is as minimal as possible and we are able to manage the obvious challenges that may arise as soon as possible.”

She disclosed that the lateral relocation of some sections to Edo Specialist Hospital was due to government concern about easy access by patients.

“Some of the staff that use to work in Central Hospital have been moved to Edo Specialist Hospital; others redeployed to the existing sections there, while others redeployed to eight Primary Health Care to provide the type of care they use to provide in Central Hospital.”

She added that the Obstetrics and Gynecology department which now accommodates Anti-natal clinic and the Paediatric department across opposite the main hospital have not been relocated.