By Odie Ramon, Yenagoa.
The Coordinating Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammadu Ali Pate, has expressed the assurance that Nigeria will overcome US President Donald Trump’s new sweeping health policy changes stopping funding of health care interventions in developing countries.
Prof Pate stated this in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, on Tuesday while commissioning the Bayelsa State Haemodialysis Centre and inauguration of the General outpatient Centre at the 350-bed hospital at the Bayelsa Medical University as parts of weeklong activities to mark Governor Douye Diri five years in office.
The Coordinating Health Minister said all the tiers of government must work collaboratively to harness the country’s resources to provide for the health needs of the population.
Commending Governor Douye Diri for his vision of establishing the Hemodialysis Centre in the state, Prof Pate said the governor had shown commitment to health care delivery and is investing in the health needs of his people.
Pate said: “Diabetes, hypertension kidney failure, and other non-communicable diseases are a major issue in our population and you are addressing it frontally by making active this Hemodialysis Centre, it’s really a strong statement of your commitment to addressing something that really touches the lives of millions of thousands of our population so that people don’t die because they have kidney failure and you are doing it in a place that also trains health workers to take care of them.
“As you are all aware, President Tinubu signed a compact with all the 36 state governments and FCT that we should join hands and transform Nigeria’s health sector to serve the Nigerian people.
“What you are doing today is exactly what we should be doing in each of our states state governments invest their resources and the federal government complements those investments to address the needs of the people, so what you have done is a great example that we should showcase of not sitting back but really frontally doing what you can to advance the health and wellbeing of your population.
“Federal government is revitalizing many of the primary health care centers in this country. More than two thousand of them are in different stages, and the state is also revitalizing some. We are making our own modest contribution, and we will continue to do that.
“The President asked us to develop a Medical Relief Programme so that we can provide support to the people to reduce the cost of access to health care.
“There are some challenges that have emerged in the last three weeks on health which is the US government policy changes but as a country there is nothing we cannot overcome, the federal government and state government will work together to mitigate some of those challenges because even those who have HIV and kidney disease can come here and get treated without having to depend on someone from very far away land to come and support them.
“We are working to ensure that all the tiers of governments become responsible for the care of our population with the resources that we have, we can harness it and we can do it.”
How My Mother Died Of Renal Failure –Gov Diri
Earlier in his speech Governor Diri said he was motivated to establish the medical facility when he became governor following the death of his mother from renal failure complications in 2013.
The governor who paid glowing tributes to the first civilian Governor of Bayelsa State Late Chief DSP Alamieseigha for initiating the 500-bed hospital two decades ago and his predecessor Senator Seriake Dickson for converting part of the facility into a medical institution also ordered the Commissioner of Health Professor Seiyefa Brisibe and the Vice Chancellor of the Bayelsa Medical University, BMU, Prof Dimie Ogoina to ensure that the 350-bed hospital becomes fully functional in six months.
Diri said: “When I came in, I said if there is a jinx in this 500-bed hospital, it must be broken; today we are breaking that jinx, we have invested so much, and today, this hospital is ready for outpatients.
“I pick so much interest, particularly about the hemodialysis center, my mother died in 2013 of renal failure, and so if we had a facility like this, maybe my mother wouldn’t have died.
“And so when I became governor, the thoughts that came to me was why not you have your own private area for this, you can do it as a foundation and certainly people will come and raise the money and you build it, and the other thought was, no you are a public servant, so it is not about you as an individual, do it in a place where all Bayelsans will have access and on a lower cost.
“I feel very fulfilled today that our people will no longer die of renal failure and that Bayelsa can now offer these services to Bayelsans and to Nigerians. We will continue to do more because health is wealth.”
Governor Diri also expressed appreciation to the Minister of Health, Professor Pate for approving Bayelsa State as one of the first states in the federation to have the malaria vaccines, describing the state as a tropical area and most mosquitos infested.
The Minister also inaugurated the Zipline Drone Flight Services for the distribution of medical supplies and consumables and also commissioned the 800m concrete access road to the Zipline Facility.
