By MAUREEN DICK
RIVERS State Government has declared that its partnerships with the United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO) and other international bodies have yielded significant results in the health sector.
The State Commissioner of Health, Adaeze Oreh, disclosed this during media chat in Port Harcourt, on Monday.
Oreh hinted that Rivers State is among the top three states alongside Kaduna and Lagos, that would be celebrated at the 2024 Private Sector Health Alliance Nigeria Awards and Gala Night.
She said Governor Siminalayi Fubara on assumption of office promised to prioritize healthcare alongside other sectors and has kept to his promise.
The Health Commissioner revealed that among others, the governor has implemented the State Contributory Health Protection Programme, being the state’s health insurance scheme which enrolls vulnerable population such as pregnant women, children under-five, elderly, poor, and persons living with disabilities.
Oreh disclosed that Governor Fubara has ensured the revamping and upgrading of the zonal hospitals in the three senatorial districts of Rivers State, which aims at boosting the medical referral system in local communities.
She stated: Partnerships with UNICEF and other international organizations in the various areas of the healthcare system are daily yielding tremendous fruits, such as the recently handed over of 720,000 litres capacity oxygen plant to the Rivers State Government by The United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF), IHS Towers, Canadian Government, and partners at Eleme General Hospital.
“Further partnerships with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and World Health Organization (WHO) are resulting in widespread availability of family planning and reproductive health commodities in all local government areas.
“As we speak, 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, among others, are some of the notable strides at the tertiary level hospital.
“Additionally, innovative steps such as the 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, the construction of a Drug Rehabilitation Centre, construction of new General Hospitals, renovation of primary healthcare centres, and many other interventions of the Rivers State Government, have been identified and celebrated by many global organizations and now, the Private Sector Health Alliance Nigeria with the nomination for an award for improving health equity and access in Nigeria.”
The Private Sector Healthcare Alliance Nigeria Award and Gala Night is scheduled for October 25, in Lagos.