SIGNA Medical Plaza Officially Open As Imo Govt, Stakeholders Commends Owners For Excellent Operations

By ThankGod Emeh…

A new state of the art health facility in the state, SIGNA Medical Plaza located at Obinze Owerri West, Imo state has been officially opened amid jubilations and commendations from  Imo State Government, Stakeholders and the general public for a job well done in establishing the well equipped edifice as well as excellent service delivery.

The opening ceremony which took place on Tuesday, October 18, 2022 had in attendance the State Governor, Hope Uzodinma who was represented by the Commissioner for Health, Hon. Prosper Ohayagha Success alongside Directors, Health Officers, Stakeholders from the ministry of Health, Traditional rulers, and notable members of the general public including the Chairman of the Nigeria Union of journalists NUJ Imo State, chief Chris Akaraonye.

In his address, the Commissioner for Health, Hon. Prosper Ohayagha Success who took time to inspect the facility after officially commissioning the medical plaza, expressed joy for the feat of the facility by the operators of the Medical center, describing the day as a day of joy in the medical profession having the digitized state of the art medical center in the state being operated by an Ihiala-Anambra born humanitarian, Ichie Emmanuel Okwuosa and wife who hails from Imo State.

“Today is a day of joy in the medical profession …the first time, I came in touch with Ichie and the wife was the time they came to my office; what strucked me most was the fact that Ichie hails from Ihiala in Anambra but he totally decided that since there is a very big hospital built by a son of Okija, Ihiala area serving the whole area, that he needed to also put up the hospital in Imo state where the wife hails from and I was touched by that”

“…And from that day, we gave him all the support he could get from the Ministry of Health without making him spend out of proportion. He paid everything that was meant to be paid appropriately with the law and today we are here to open up this edifice”

He commended them  for their determination to establish the facility even in face of daunting challenges as well as keying into the 3R manthra of the Governor, adding that the State Ministry of Health will continue to support them where possible but warned against all manner of quackery in the profession, noting that “Health is not about the equipment and edifice but about the empathy that one gets from the health workers and the serenity of the area it is found in.

“When construction of this place was going on, I took an inspection tour to this place; I was taken round and I realized that in Imo state, we have an MRI of 0.3 Slice which nobody would want to do with especially the Neurosurgeons and today, I am proud to say that in Imo state, we have a facility that is giving us a 1.5 Tesla MRI; what it means is that instead of sending our patients all the way to Port Harcourt to do their test, we will have these tests being done here in Imo state”

“when I interacted with them, I found out that there is an aim for coming here and that aim is to make health accessible, affordable and equitable for all residents of Imo state and for that we say thank you very much”

“You have keyed into the 3R manthra of the Governor because you are recovering, rehabilitating and restructuring the health sector for us… and this is not possible if we leave it alone for the government to do; we can only achieve this if we have a Public-Private Partnership and that is why the government is fully involved and backing the SIGNA Medical Complex”

“On my honour as the Honourable Commissioner for Health Imo State; the ministry of Health will do everything possible within its ambit to make sure that everything that goes on within this complex is within the regulations and guidelines of the Ministry of Health and I want to assure you that from time to time, we will take unscheduled inspection to this place, so this is a warning to everybody who is working here to be at their best”

Hon. Ohayagha called on the Traditional Ruler of the host community, Umuanunu Autonomous Community in Obinze, Owerri West, Eze Geoffrey Ejimogu (Anunu 1 of Umuanunu)  and Community leaders in the area to safeguard the establishments in their domain adding that when there is security for the facility and its workers, they can work to serve them credibly without interruptions.

Responding to the call of the Health Commissioner, Eze Geoffrey Ejimogu thanked the CEOS of the hospital as well as the Commissioner for such magnificent investment in the area and making out time to attend and open the place officially while promising to ensure a peaceful and conducive business environment that will not only benefit the community but the operators and general public.

The CEO of SIGNA Medicals, Ichie Emmanuel Okwuosa while speaking at the event alongside his wife, Barrister Chisorom Okwuosa who doubles as the Co-CEO of the hospital said the aim for the establishment is giving back to society, contributing their quota in Nigeria and Imo Health Sector in particular as well as providing employment to teeming Nigerian youths upon retirement from their base abroad.

“We want to give our own support to the health sector in Imo State. We decided that no matter what it takes, that we are going to give back to our people, our Community and we are going to contribute our own quota for providing employment to our youths”

“We decided that after  we retire, we will come back and work with our people and as a result we have this magnificent hospital”

Ichie Okwuosa emphasized their resolve to be fully committed to duty and as well stand out as the best diagnosis hospital across the country, adding that the medical plaza offers Imaging, Optometry, Laboratory, Pharmaceutical and Dialysis services.

“We want to be known as the best Diagnosis facility in Nigeria, so we brought everything from US; all the equipments. We have 5 departments all in one here; we have Pharmacy, Laboratory, 10 station- Dialysis, Best water treatment for Dialysis; We have Radiology(MRI, CT Scan, Digital Xray, Mammography, ECG/EKG,Ultrasound), and Optometry departments. We will continue to do whatever we could to bring our quota to Imo State and Nigeria”, Ichie Okwuosa concluded.

Introducing and announcing the official operation of the facility to the general public, the Head of Administration of SIGNA Medical Plaza, Mrs Chinonye Iwu stressed that “SIGNA Medicals LTD is a corporation driven by its vision to be the undisputed leader in Diagnostic testing and healthcare services in Nigeria by providing quality healthcare services using the most advanced and most trusted equipments in Diagnostic testing” adding that “SIGNA is a Comprehensive multi modality centre that provides integrated healthcare solutions that will transform healthcare for patients and staff and a one-stop out-patient hospital”

Mrs Iwu noted that the mission and vision of the state of the art medical center is to provide affordable and accessible healthcare services to everyone
stating that the management and staff envision all countrymen to have access to quality healthcare and to access accurate information about their health, adding that “SIGNA Medicals core objective is to provide affordable healthcare services in a professional and compassionate manner as success is found on the skill and efforts of our employees”

…News Corner.