By Donald Ojebo
The Delta State Government has been commended for providing a state of the art health care facility and corresponding services for the benefit of its citizens and residents.
Ahmadu Fintiri, Governor, Adamawa State made this known today during the official commissioning of the Asaba Specialist Hospital.
“This gigantic project will no doubt positively impact the lives of residents, change the narratives of secondary health care service delivery in Delta State and drive home the health care reform in Delta State” he said.
“I have seen the transformed Asaba which can be a source of pride to every well-meaning Nigerian and it also rekindle my hope for our country and gives me more compelling reason to push for more concession of responsibilities and resources to the sub-national units of our federation” he asserted.
Governor Fintiri said there is need for a constitutional review and therefore called for devolution of more powers and resources to the States to allow for more real development to be in place by the State governments.
“The projects I have seen in Delta State such as this Specialist Hospital that will be commissioned today is a clear testimony that with more devolution of responsibilities and resources to States, so much can be done, concerns can be addressed, nerves can be calmed and a great country that works for everyone will be reinvented and the economy will strive better. This is a collective responsibility and this is what we owe our citizens, the entire black race and the world at large”.
In his speech, Governor, Delta State, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa said that the hospital is in partnership with the private sector in part of its operations because of the believe that it will enable the hospital offer services which ordinarily may not be efficiently run by the government directly and that is why the radiology unit has been out-sourced.
Governor Okowa urged the Staff of the hospital to stay focused on the goal of the hospital, offer best of their services and ensure that the hospital becomes a center of excellence.
He revealed that since the commencement of operations, well over 70,000 patients had been seen and of this number over 30,000 of them were children under five years of age and this means that a lot of children that would have died have been saved in this hospital and this is what Deltans should be proud of.
Speaking on the State Contributory Health Scheme, Governor Okowa said it is real in Delta State and a lot of persons are benefitting from it as a lot of lives have been saved and people are happier for it advocating that it is doable in the entire country.
He recommended the Scheme for other States on the ground that it is the easiest way of reaching out to the poor and urged the Federal Government to ensure all funds as contained in the National Health Act are released and 50% of that fund goes into health insurance for the vulnerable as the most vulnerable in the society today are the pregnant women and children under the age of 5years.
“Today we have poor health indices as a nation and I believe that the release of the Basic Health Care Funds in full and its operationalization as it ought to be would definitely go a long way to save us from these poor indices we have among the comity of nations” he advocated.
In his welcome address the Chairman Oshimili South Local Government Area said that healthcare delivery is one of the focal point of the administration of His Excellence, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa.
He said the Asaba Specialist Hospital will go a long way to take pressure off the Federal Medical Center and other health facilities within the Asaba axis.
The Chairman on behalf of his people expressed his gratitude to the Okowa administration for the numerous projects embarked on and also completed in the Council Area.
Earlier while introducing the hospital, the Permanent Secretary, State Ministry of Health Dr. Ejiro Ogheneaga said the hospital is 220-bed facility with 11 in-patient wards including Accident and Emergency Unit; Children Emergency Room; Adult Emergency Ward; Intensive Care Unit; Male and Female Wards; Male and Female Surgical Wards; Maternity Ward; Labour Ward; Theaters; Paediatric Ward; and Neonatal Unit.
He added other facilities to include potable water; 11KVA dedicated line for power needs of the hospital synchronized with four 1000KVA generating sets as backup and a medical oxygen plant reticulated to all wards.
Dr. Ogheneaga said the hospital has a tertiary-level Sickle cell Anaemia Referral Center fully equipped with best model facilities by the 05 Initiative a pet project of Her Excellency, Wife of the Governor, Dame Edit Okowa.
He stated that the hospital was designed to offer tertiary care services and serve as a referral center for secondary and primary health care facilities within and outside Delta State.
