By FRANCIS IGATA

ONITSHA—About 100 health professionals were, last weekend, trained in various health fields by members of Anambra Business Coalition, ABC, a Public Private Partnership, PPP, formed by the state government in collaboration with RISE Health Corporation, RHC, a non-governmental organisation, based in the United States of America, USA.

At the training session which covered Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation, CPR, proper usage of a defibrillator machine, and the use of an epinephrine pen for anaphylaxis or severe allergic reactions, the participants were highly motivated and eager to learn during both the video and live lectures that also involved hands-on-skills workshop.

The training programme, which is aimed at boosting manpower development in the health sector reforms in the state, was part of the PPP arrangement contained in the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, recently entered into by the Anambra State government and RHC.

The MoU, according to Governor Willie Obiano, was not only to stem the tide of “Brain Drain Phenomenon,” which had led to the exodus of highly skilled healthcare professionals from the country to seek “greener pastures,” but also to institute proper training arrangements that would boost manpower development within the sector in the state.

Obiano acknowledged that our health professionals, who are leaving for developed countries were looking for greater career opportunities, higher salary scales and better living conditions, which explained why his administration was out to find a lasting solution to the menace, which according to him, was currently crippling the country’s health sector due to a lack of qualified healthcare workers to properly cater for the growing population.

He stated that as one of the primary objectives of its Hospital Re-engineering Project, HRP, ABC, PPP, the state government and RHC were to provide over 30,000 professional training hours to build the healthcare workforce in the state by the end of 2017.