By Nelson Egware

The advancement made in healthcare delivery in Delta State, South-South Nigeria, in the midst of economic and security challenges in the country remains one strong leadership principle of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa. The governor himself, a medical doctor, in the past six years, has been resolute in the provision of healthcare and wellness to his people through bringing healthcare closer to the people of the State from the primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

As an important element of the Stronger Delta agenda, the State Government through the Ministry of Health’s well-structured policies and programmes, continues strengthening governance and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the health system across the State’s three senatorial districts.

Gov. Okowa’s ability to provide premium health services has rapidly advanced the health indices of the population in Delta State, thereby putting the State on a national scale as a leading destination for acquiring affordable and qualitative healthcare delivery. On Tuesday 15 June, 2021, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s quest to improve on Universal Health Coverage received a boost with the official inauguration of the newly completed Asaba Specialist Hospital.

The joy expressed by Deltans was palpable as affirmed in the singing and dancing at the event. Women, indeed residents of the State, continue to celebrate the free healthcare enjoyed by the vulnerable, especially young children aged 0-5 and pregnant women. The hospital is a source of joy to Deltans and has been described by many as a blessing, beyond easing the workload of the Federal Medical Centre Asaba, and providing healthcare to other neighbouring States. The health facility is the actualization of the healthcare component in the Stronger Delta agenda of the Okowa-led administration.

Prior to the inauguration, the Governor who visited to ascertain the readiness of the hospital, said the hospital had been a beehive of activities since it commenced operations some months ago. He also said that the Specialist Hospital was a well-thought-out centre, which would reduce pressure from the Federal Medical Centre in Asaba. He noted that the hospital was not just about putting up buildings, but putting the place into a functional and operational state to deliver on the mandate of providing healthcare services to Deltans.

Okowa also said the radiology unit was now fully in place and the oxygen plant fully installed, adding that the hospital has become very busy with over 70,000 patients seen with no fewer than 30,000 being children under five years of age and over 200 surgeries already done successfully in the past few months.

Prior to the coming on stream of the specialist hospital, Okwe General Hospital, located on the eastern part of Asaba, off the ever busy Benin-Onitsha highway, was the only State government hospital in the whole of the capital city and was often patronised by people from Anambra State who took advantage of the free maternal health care and free under five treatment in Delta. On the significance of the new hospital, Governor Okowa said: “There had also been a lot of pressure on the Federal Medical Centre. But with this centre here, I think that we have been able to take off that pressure, because when the pressure is too much, you find out that attending to patients is not good enough and you may lose some, that ordinarily would have been catered for.”

He expressed optimism that the hospital would be beneficial to the people, saying, “I believe that this hospital is going to be very busy and we are doing our best to ensure that we have several specialists either fully employed or coming in on request to see our patients. “It’s a very functional place and also a hospital where we are putting a part of our services into Public Private Partnership (PPP). While inaugurating the hospital with his Adamawa State counterpart, Ahmadu Fintiri, Okowa called on the Federal Government to fully operationalise the National Health Act to curb the high rate of maternal and neonatal mortality in the country.

He commended President Muhammadu Buhari for operationalising the National Health Act, but remarked that it was being implemented in part, contrary to the full content and letters of the Act as passed by the National Assembly. According to him, when fully operationalised, half of the funds would be utilised in providing free treatment to the vulnerable group thereby reducing prevailing high maternal and neo-natal mortality rate which has become an embarrassment to the country. The governor stated that his administration, in 2017, operationalised its Contributory Health Commission Law, “and realising that most of our women are unable to pay, we decided that we will pay the premium for all pregnant women and children under the age of five years. “This we have been doing in the last four and half years and we are aware of the impact it has made in society.

“I believe that it is something doable in the entire country, because when the National Health Act is fully operationalised, many children will be able to access free healthcare. “I call on the Federal Government to ensure that all funds as contained in the National Health Act is fully released and 50 per cent will go to the vulnerable, which include the pregnant women and children under five years.”

He stated that part of the Asaba Specialist Hospital was operating under a Public- Private-Partnership (PPP) arrangement for efficiency. “Apart from being a big hospital, we are also in partnership with the private sector in parts of the operations of this hospital. This will enable us to offer services that the government may not efficiently run directly and that is why the radiology unit of this hospital has been out-sourced.

“Today, we have a 125-slide CT-Scan, a digital fluoroscopy X-ray and 4D ultrasound, all functional in this hospital. It also has its own oxygen-generating plant that is functional and reticulated to all the wards in the hospital. “Beyond the 220 beds, a segment of the hospital was actually given to the 05 Initiative, an initiative of the First Lady of the State; she mobilised private sector funds to equip the centre. “As at today, it’s only one centre in Lagos that can truly boast of the facilities that we have in the Sickle Cell centre here.

“We have several consultants in different fields and we are still looking for more consultants so that we do not need to transfer any patient out of here on referral,” the governor added. Inaugurating the hospital, Fintiri commended Governor Okowa for demonstrating great leadership traits, which has culminated to numerous projects being inaugurated across the State. “I have seen a transformed Asaba, which also rekindles my heart for the country and gives me a more compelling reason to pray for more concessions of responsibilities and resources to the sub-national units of our federation.

*Egware writes from Asaba.