The coordinating minister of health and social welfare, Mohammed Pate, says President Bola Tinubu remains committed to investing more in the health sector for sustainable economic growth.

The minister said this on Wednesday at the inauguration of the Jennifer Etuh Medical Centre, built by the Jennifer Etuh Foundation (JEF), a non-governmental organisation, in Umunoha, Mbaitoli Local Government Area of Imo.

He was represented by the chief medical director, Federal Teaching Hospital, Owerri, Dr Kingsley Achigbu.

The foundation, which was established in 2021, has carried out 57,939 medical interventions involving 22,785 patients across Nigeria.

The foundation built similar facilities in Kagoro, Kaduna state; Odu, Ogboyega in Kogi; Ifewara in Osun; Tula in Gombe state and Obubra in Cross River.

Inaugurated as part of the 50th posthumous birthday celebration of Jennifer Etuh, a foremost philanthropist, the minister said that the centre aligned with Mr Tinubu’s “Renewed Hope Agenda”.

“The President Bola Tinubu-led government remains committed to consolidating on the investments in the country’s health sector, much as the Imo state government,” he said.

Speaking, Gov. Hope Uzodinma of Imo thanked the foundation for extending its generosity to the state by making Imo a choice destination for the medical centre.

“Imo is one of the benefitting states, as one medical centre was built in each of the six geopolitical zones in the country. 

He enjoined well meaning Imo people to “experience the joy of organised philanthropy exhibited by the JEF.

Also speaking, vice chairman of the foundation and foremost preacher, Sarah Omakwu, extolled the virtues of the late Mrs Etuh and described the husband’s sustenance of her legacies as proof that good men still exist.

Another preacher, Yakubu Mamman, urged Nigerians to exhibit faith through reconciliation with God so that they would be remembered when they have left the earth, just like Mrs Etuh.

Earlier in his address, chairman of the foundation,  Thomas Etuh, said that the construction of medical centres across all geopolitical zones of the country was in keeping with his late wife’s “death wish” for the uplifting of helpless Nigerians.

“Each facility stands as a beacon of hope, a testament to God’s unwavering guidance, provision and support; we are here today for the culmination of my darling wife’s dreams and prayers, transformed into tangible reality,” he said.

The event was attended by the Auxiliary Archbishop, Catholic Archdiocese of Owerri, Bishop Moses Chikwe and members of the Umunoha Peoples Assembly, as well as top officials of the Imo government.

 (NAN)