By: Felix Ikpotor
The Rivers State Government has flagged-off it’s monthly community-based free medical outreach for communities hosting it’s facilities.
The outreach which is in collaboration between the State Ministry of Health and the Hospitals Management Board was flagged-off at the Kelsey Harrison Hospital in Diobu, Port Harcourt.
Speaking at the flag-off, Permanent Secretary of the State Ministry of Health, Dr Comfort Igwe said the initiative aligns with the government’s commitment to ensuring universal access to quality healthcare, stressing that the government recognizes the importance of community-based healthcare in reaching the most vulnerable populations.
She said the key objectives of the programme is to provide free medical services, improve healthcare access for all residents, particularly pregnant women and children under five, promote health awareness, educate the community on various health issues, including maternal and child health.
She added that the programme also aims to strengthen healthcare system by enhancing the system’s capacity to deliver quality services.
Igwe restated governments commitment to ensuring health universal healthcare coverage.
“Our government is dedicated to making healthcare a fundamental right, not a privilege. We will continue to work towards universal healthcare coverage, ensuring that every resident enjoys free and quality healthcare services,” she stated.
For his part, Chief Medical Director of the Rivers State Hospitals Management Board, Dr Bright Ogbonda, said the outreach aims to ensure that healthcare delivery services come close to the people at the grassroots and to also drive demand for it’s facilities.
“We want to ensure that we sensitize the people on the need for them to be health conscious.
“Also, it is to ensure that we generate demand for our facilities. Now what this means is that at the end of the day people that we cannot reach here as a result of our inability to move our equipments to those places will now have to come here and by so doing generate demands for our facility at Kelsey Harrison Hospital,” Ogbonda stated.
He also said the programme is part of the Board’s corporate social responsibility to its host communities and the police authorities especially the Mile One Police Division for their support to them and the hospitals in the area.
“For the surrounding communities including the able policemen who have frequently supported us, what we give to them in return is what we describe as our own part of the social corporate responsibility to our community, therefore, from the little we have gotten we are offering this free medical programme so that they can benefit,” he added.
The CMD explained that the outreach which is on a monthly basis, and taking place in all it’s facilities would offer services such as surgeries, eye care, dental services and others.
In his response, Divisional Police Officer Mile One Police Division, CSP Francis Ogbechie appreciated the Board for extending the services to officers of the division.
