…Promises to revisit the issue of Cancer Center, Mother & Child Hospital despite challenges
Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara has said development cannot be complete if the health sector is neglected and abandoned, justifying why his administration is focused on revitalizing the sector for optimal service delivery to the people.
Governor Fubara disclosed this while receiving the Country Representative of the World Health Organization, Dr. Walter Kazadi Mulumbu and his team in Government House, Port Harcourt on Thursday.
The governor noted that his administration since assumption took cognizance of the importance of the health sector and began to implement policies to revive and reposition the sector.
While appreciating the recognition of the achievement of his government by WHO in areas of implementing the Health insurance scheme and the investment in the primary healthcare, Gov. Fubara stated that he has ensured the timely release of the required resources to enable them to perform as expected and that has made the primary healthcare to improve tremendously in the State since he came onboard.
“We did not end there, we know the situation of the tertiary health services. We have only two here at Rivers State University Teaching Hospital and University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital. You can imagine the pressure on those two facilities. So we decided to ensure that the intermediary health sector comes back to life.”
He noted that as a matter of policy his government has started reconstructing and expanding all the zonal hospitals located at Degema, Bori, Omoku, Ahoada and Okehi to meet contemporary standards.
“In some areas,like Bonny where the people cannot access the zonal hospital, we have started work on improving the state of the Bonny General Hospital. We know their importance and we are doing our best to complement what you are doing to make sure that healthcare gets to not just the rich, but to the poor at affordable and quality service.”
The governor promised that notwithstanding the technical challenges relating to the Cancer Center and the Mother & Child Hospital, and with the appeal by the WHO for his administration to reactivate the two facilities, he will certainly revisit them.
Governor Fubara reiterated that his administration prioritizes Health issues as preparations were already in top gear to tackle the eventual outbreak of cholera as well as manage any health challenges that may emanate from the predicted flood in the State, assuring that he will continue to pay greater attention to the sector.
“As a matter of fact, there are only 3 key areas in our 2025 budget. So, you don’t need to remind us to allocate larger proportions to health, as health, education and agriculture remain the key areas of the budget. We believe that when we roll out the budget, a greater part of the healthcare services will be accommodated.”
He commended the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Adaeze Oreh for her steadfastness and commitment in the repositioning of the sector in the State and all the successes recorded by his administration in the sector.
Speaking earlier, the Country Representative of the World Health Organization, Dr. Walter Kazadi Mulumbu applauded Governor Siminalayi Fubara for his development initiative in the health sector that has improved the primary healthcare sector in the State, adding that his commitment to restoration of the zonal hospitals is also commendable.
He said their visit is to further encourage the government of Sir Siminalayi Fubara to sustain the support through consistent release of counterpart funds to various health programmes promoted by the World Health Organization, and solicited support for the various programmes of the body in the state to succeed.
Dr. Mulumbu particularly requested the governor to improve the equity funding for the Health insurance scheme and encourage the participation of the labour union in the state as well as support the revitalization of the Cancer center and Mother & Child Hospital in the State to further boost healthcare services.