Bayelsa to upgrade 500-bed facility to teaching hospital

… NMA hails Bayelsa’s efforts in Health sector

From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa

The Bayelsa State government has assured that machinery has been set in motion to upgrade the state-owned 500-bed health facility to a full-fledged teaching hospital to meet the academic needs of the institution’s students.

The Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, stated this during a courtesy visit by the Bayelsa State branch of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) at the Government House in Yenagoa.

Senator Ewhrudjakpo explained that the medical facility would be resourced and developed to serve as the Bayelsa Medical University Teaching Hospital (BMUTH), to complement the status of the institution as a medical university.

The Deputy Governor, who gave plaudits to the leadership of the NMA in the state for calling off their proposed warning strike, assured the association that the government would holistically address the wage-related issues.

Responding specifically to the issue of no functional MRI facility in any of the hospitals in the state, Ewhrudjakpo said the development was a matter of serious concern, promising that the government would look into it.

On the issue of power supply, he assured members of the NMA of the government’s ongoing efforts to provide a 60 megawatts gas turbine that would boost electricity supply in the state as power was a key component in its ASSURED Agenda.

He assured the NMA that the government would support the body to host their quarterly South-South zonal meeting in Yenagoa, as well as the ongoing construction of the NMA Secretariat in Yenagoa.

Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the state branch of the NMA, Dr. Wilcox Izibeya, acknowledged the innovations being made in the health sector by the Bayelsa State Government.

Dr. Izibeya, who decried the absence of MRI medical equipment in all the hospitals, appealed to the government to support the association on their Secretariat project, hosting of the zonal meeting, and participation at their annual convention slated for 27th April to 2nd May, this year in Katsina State.