Omiete Blessing
The Rivers State Commissioner for Health, Dr Adaeze Oreh has revealed that the State 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 of health, who disclosed this on Monday, during a chat with journalists in Port Harcourt, said the event is scheduled for October 25, 2024 in Lagos.
Dr Oreh said Governor Fubara on assumption of office promised to prioritise healthcare alongside other sectors and has kept to his promise.
She revealed that among others, the Governor has implemented the State Contributory Health Protection Programme, the state’s health insurance scheme which enrolls vulnerable population such as pregnant women, children under-five, elderly, poor, and persons living with disabilities;
Dr Oreh also noted that the governor has ensured the revamping and upgrading of the Zonal hospitals at the three Senatorial Districts of Rivers State which aims at boosting the medical referral system in local communities.
According to her, “Partnerships with UNICEF and other international organizations 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 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.”
She said “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”.
Dr Oreh further listed some of the innovative steps taken by the government on health 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, construction of new General Hospitals, renovation of primary healthcare centres”, many others.
She stressed that the State government have been identified and celebrated by many global organizations recently, adding that the Private Sector Health Alliance Nigeria was is an award for improving health equity and access in Nigeria.