The Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo disclosed that, the present administration would give more attention to the state-owned Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital (NDUTH), Okolobiri as part of his agenda this term.
Senator Ewhrudjakpo stated this, while commissioning the secretariat of the Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) at the NDUTH, Okolobiri in the Yenagoa Local Government Area.
Speaking as a special guest of honour at the ceremony, Senator Ewhrudjakpo, noted that the teaching hospital means a lot to the government and people of the state and therefore would be given more facelift within the limits of available resources. Justifying the importance of completing inherited unfinished projects, he identified failure to do so on the part of most leaders in both public and private sectors as a major cause of under-development in the country.
Senator Ewhrudjakpo commended the Chairman and members of MDCAN, NDUTH Okolobiri Branch, for collaborating effectively with the management of the hospital and urged them to sustain the gesture.
He described the project, as unprecedented in the history of the state-owned teaching hospital, and gave kudos to the current MDCAN Executives for successfully completing the Legacy House project inherited from their predecessors.
He embarked on a tour round the newly inaugurated Secretariat and other facilities at the NDUTH, urged other unions to borrow a leaf from the medical and dental consultants’ association.
According to him, the state government was ready to collaborate with critical stakeholders to build more facilities to meet the infrastructural needs of the state-owned tertiary health institution to improve the well-being of the people.
“The Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital is very important to us because it is not just providing health services, but it’s also a training facility for medium level health manpower. So, we are poised to do more for this hospital. I commend the Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) and the Management of the NDUTH for building this edifice. We need this kind of collaboration with the NDUTH management and other well-meaning stakeholders to build more facilities and structures for the hospital. This building project is unprecedented as far as the NDUTH is concerned. I want to commend Dr. Sambo and his team for continuing with this project they inherited to its completion which we are commissioning today”, he said.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Chief Medical Director, Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital, Okolobori, Prof. Dimie Ogoina, disclosed that the MDCAN Secretariat was funded through monthly contributions from salaries of its members.
Prof. Ogoina, who thanked the Governor Diri-led administration for its efforts towards improved healthcare delivery in the state, appealed to the state government to acquire more land, reconstruct the perimeter fencing and build other critical infrastructures for the hospital. .
Also speaking, the Chairman of the NDUTH branch of MDCAN, Dr. Sambo Biobelete, expressed gratitude to Senator Ewhrudjakpo for finding time to commission the project, noting that it will add more value to service delivery at the teaching hospital.
According to Sambo, the project which includes houses, a laboratory, consulting rooms, a conference hall and library among others, will serve a dual purpose as MDCAN Secretariat as well as HIV/AIDS counselling and testing centre.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the occasion, Dr. Godbless Oyinke, saluted MDCAN for successfully completing the project, and called on the state government to urgently address the pressing needs of the teaching hospital.
