Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State has vowed to make the state, a first choice medical tourism destination in Nigeria and Africa.
Fubara said this to newsmen at the Government House in Port Harcourt, while speaking on his administration’s modest achievements in the health sector since assumption of office.
He explained that to achieve this, his administration was seriously paying greater attention to improving healthcare infrastructure.
He vowed to improve the services available to the people, particularly at the primary level, and to bridge observed gaps between the primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare services in the state.
Fubara emphasised that the ongoing reconstruction, rehabilitation and upgrade of all primary healthcare facilities across the state would be integrated with existing secondary and tertiary institutions.
This, he said, was to deliver immediate but quality healthcare services to the people.
“The capacity of the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital (RSUTH) has been improved with training of personnel, establishment of critical units and provision of modern equipment to deliver sterling and expert services to patients.
“We are proud of our modest achievements in the health sector, particularly in the construction of primary healthcare centres.
“We are also supporting the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital to perform optimally. Do not also forget the contributory healthcare insurance law that we have started implementing.
“I assure you that we will complete all the ongoing healthcare infrastructure projects that we have around the state,” he said.
Fubara also identified some challenges that had frustrated smooth delivery of healthcare services in the state, and promised to tackle them.
He said that some of the challenges are inadequate manpower, corruption, indiscipline and ineffective management.
“We will deal with all identified challenges and ensure that the healthcare system functions optimally to deliver affordable and efficient services to all residents of the state,” he said.
The Rivers State Commissioner for Health, Dr Adaeze Oreh, said that under Fubara’s leadership, the state had experienced formidable strides in building a rigorous and robust primary healthcare system.
Oreh noted that the current emphasis was on renovating and upgrading already existing primary healthcare facilities to enhance their functionality to give the Rivers people access to affordable primary healthcare services.
She noted the update and approval of implementation of the Rivers State Contributory Health Protection Programme, the state’s health insurance scheme by Fubara.
Oreh further highlighted the importance of the ongoing employment of various categories of health workers in the Teaching Hospital and the Rivers State Hospitals Management Board as approved by the governor.
She said the application process was still open, with the online application portal inundated with applications from across the state and the Diaspora.
“People from Rivers who are currently working in the Diaspora are keen to return to contribute their quota to the Rivers health sector,” Oreh said.
