The Rivers State government has tasked the University Health Services providers across the country to bridge the medical gaps in the health care services delivery by expanding their operational frontiers for the benefits of the society.
The State Commissioner for Health, Prof Princewill Chike stated this while declaring open a 5-day 33rd Committee of Directors of Health Services in Nigerian Universities CODHESNU and the 17th National Association of Doctors in Universities Health Service (NADUHS) Scientific Conference / AGM at the Amphitheatre, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt.
The commissioner who was represented by the Director for Special Programmes and Projects in the Ministry, Dr Ojum Silvanus, described (CODHESNU)/NADUHS as key partners in the health service delivery, adding that members of the two associations have great roles to play to bridge the existing gaps in the health service delivery in the country.
He noted that there were many challenges in the health sector, adding that the members of the two associations were better positioned to proffer solutions to the lingering many challenges.
According to him, the state government had within the three years in office made remarkable impacts on improving the health sector in the state with the construction of five zonal hospitals across the state that would function as specialist hospitals.
He further disclosed that the state government has built and equipped a modern health centre in the state university, with a view to providing health services to the university community as well as the entire state. Prof Chike described the theme of the conference, “University Health Services Expanding the Frontiers of Service Delivery: Going Beyond mere Consulting Clinics to Comprehensive Health Facilities” as apt, adding that the conference would not have come at a better time than now, the country according to him, was facing some challenges in health care service delivery.
Also speaking, the Vice Chancellor of the State University (RSU) Port Harcourt, Prof Blessing Didia, said the country’s health service delivery was in a state of crisis and called for declaratation of emergency in the sector.
He averred that the country was losing its scarce resources through medical tourism on daily basis, adding that the trend could be reversed if the proper attention and deep thinking was given to the theme of the conference. “The university health centres are adequately positioned to champion the reversal and make them centres of excellence and referrals”, he said.