Fubara Revamps Zonal Hospitals for Efficient Healthcare Delivery in Rivers

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has assured the state of revamping and upgrading of the zonal hospitals at the three senatorial districts of the state.

The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Adaeze Oreh, who disclosed this yesterday in Port Harcourt, said the aim for revamping of the hospitals is to boost the medical referral system in local communities across the state.

Oreh disclosed that Rivers is among the top three states that will be celebrated at the 2024 Private Sector Health Alliance Nigeria Awards and Gala Night alongside Kaduna and Lagos States.

The commissioner, who disclosed also that the proposed award is for improving health equity and access in Nigeria, said Governor Fubara, on assumption of office, promised to prioritise healthcare alongside other sectors, and has kept to his promise.

Oreh revealed that the governor has approved the implemented the state Contributory Health Protection Programme, including the state “health insurance scheme which enrolls vulnerable population such as pregnant women, children under-five, elderly, poor, and persons living with disabilities.”

 As part of achievements in the health sector, Dr. Oreh said: “The health partnerships with UNICEF and other international organisations in the various areas of the healthcare system is daily yielding tremendous fruits, such as the recently handed over of 720,000 litres capacity oxygen plant to the Rivers State Government by UNICEF, IHS Towers, Canadian Government, and partners at Eleme General Hospital.”

She continued that further partnerships with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and World Health Organisation (WHO) are resulting in widespread availability of family planning and reproductive health commodities in all local government areas.

“The establishment of a Stroke Centre, Burns Unit, and expansion of Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and bed space capacity at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital, accreditations in specialist areas of medical training such as Pediatrics, Surgery, Orthopedics, ENT, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, amongst others are some of the notable strides at the tertiary level hospital,” she said.

The health commissioner disclosed the innovative steps taken by the current government to include “introduction of mental health services, eye care, and obstetric imaging at primary healthcare level; reviving of state emergency medical services, establishment of acute malnutrition management sites in the senatorial districts, employment of 2,000 health workers, massive upgrading of the Neuropsychiatric Hospital and the construction of a Drug Rehabilitation Centre and others.”

THISDAY gathered that the award by the Healthcare Alliance Nigeria Award and Gala Night is scheduled for October 25, 2024, in Lagos.