Rivers To Prioritise Healthcare In 2025 Budget, Gov Assures WHO

Rivers State Governor, Mr. Siminalayi Fubara, has said that Rivers people deserve a functional healthcare system that is accessible and affordable.
The governor, who stated this when he received a delegation of the World Health Organisation (WHO) led by the Country Representative, Dr Kazadi Walter Molumbo, at Government House in Port Harcourt on Thursday, disclosed that this was why his administration would commit huge budgetary allocation to the sector in the 2025.
The Governor said, “As a matter of fact, in our 2025 budget, we have three key areas: Health, Education and Agriculture. They are our key areas in our 2025 budget. We believe that when we roll out that budget, greater part of the health issues and services will be accommodated.”
Fubara lamented the deplorable state of health facilities his administration inherited. He said there was no functional secondary health facility as all the zonal hospitals were not completed.
“As a government, when we came on board, we also knew that one very important area that we need to touch is healthcare. Development cannot be complete if the health sector is abandoned,” he said.
He said the government had to reactivate the health insurance scheme and now has a better health system than it inherited with improved funding.
“We know the situation of the tertiary health services. We only have two: Rivers State University Teaching Hospital (RSUTH) and University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH). You can imagine the pressure on those two. So, we also took it upon ourselves to make sure that the intermediary health services must come to life.
“As a policy of our government, we have even started the completion and expansion to standard of all the Zonal Hospitals. We have the Degema, Bori, Ahoada, Omoku and Okehi, and we are already working on them. We didn’t end there. We also have a key facility in Bonny.
“People living in Bonny can’t come from there to access the Zonal Hospital. So, we have already started work to improve the state of the Bonny General Hospital.”
Governor Fubara appreciated WHO for the wonderful work that it is doing in both supervisory and support role in the health sector and other areas of health concerns, not just in Rivers State, but in Nigeria and the world at large.
The governor assured that everything was being done to prevent cholera and other communicable diseases.
“We have also set up a medical team, knowing that there will be health issues when the flood situation breaks out. So, we are on top of the situation,” he said.
The WHO Country Representative, Dr. Molumbo, commended Governor Fubara for his efforts towards achieving the target for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and ensure that the people enjoyed good health by 2030.
Dr. Molumbo stated that Nigeria, like most countries of the world, was lagging behind in terms of reaching the target for SDGs by 2030, adding that it was for that reason that there is a global call to do things differently and accelerate the rescue of the people.
“I will like to specifically commend you for some of the key achievements that have come to our notice, namely: the reactivation of the task force on primary healthcare in line with the Abuja Declaration. And again, I’d Iike to emphasize the need for other departments to participate towards efforts to reach that reactivation.
“The consistent release of counterpart funds for supplementary immunization activities. This is something we like to see in many states. What is happening in Rivers State is truly encouraging,” he said.