More than 3years after healthcare services were disrupted in Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State due to insecurity, the services are due to resume in the area in January 2022.
This followed the restoration of peace and stability in the area by the Council Chairman, Erastus Charles Awortu.
Chief Medical Director of the Rivers State Hospital Management Board Dr. Kenneth Okagua disclosed this during an inspection of facilities at the Ngo General Hospital ahead of the planned resumption of healthcare services in the area.
The healthcare system of Andoni was not spared in the wake of heightened insecurity in the area occasioned by cult related violence forcing medical doctors, nurses and other health workers to flee the area for safety abandoning the Ngo General Hospital.
The ugly situation exacerbated the protracted health challenges faced by the local populace of Andoni with increased morbidity rate and avoidable deaths at an alarming rate due to lack of healthcare services in the area.
The Ngo General Hospital which is a secondary healthcare facility decayed and overgrown with weeds, and infested by reptiles due to the years of abandonment occasioned by insecurity.
However the situation is different today following the swift intervention by the Andoni Council Chairman Erastus Awortu who on assumption of office restored peace in Andoni and re-activated the Ngo General Hospital whilst strategically engaging with the State Government and the Rivers State Hospital Management Board on the need to redeploy healthcare personnel to the area given the prevailing peace and security in the area.
The Awortu administration recovered the Ngo General Hospital from weeds and reptiles, restored electricity and water supply, and carried out other remedial work at the hospital.
The Andoni Council Chairman Erastus Awortu led the Chief Medical Director of the Rivers State Hospital Management Board, Dr. Kenneth Okagua and other officials of the Board on inspection of the re-activated Ngo General Hospital.
Speaking to newsmen shortly after the inspection of the health facility, the Chief Medical Director of the Rivers State Hospital Management Board, Dr. Kenneth Okagua said the skeletal services will resume at the Ngo General Hospital in January 2022 and will gradually scale-up to full medical services.
He attributed the proposed restoration of the healthcare system of Andoni to the tenacity of purpose and eagerness by the Council Chairman Erastus Awortu.
“This is one of our health facilities that render Secondary Healthcare to the State, unfortunately we had some challenges that made us to withdraw our Staff here. The challenges were security breach, our Staff were no longer comfortable to the extent that they had to abandon their duty post and left for safety after armed men came into the facility asking to see the Doctor and we don’t know what their intentions were.
I hear the place is now more peaceful, the Chairman has been very eager to get the place functional again, that is why we are here to do a physical inspection with a view to get the place functional again. I am here today with my Director of Medical Services and Director of Nursing Services to see how we can get the Hospital running again. We have seen the assistant the Council has given to us, though there are some things we still need to put in place but we are hopeful that by January we will start some skeletal services and gradually we will scale up the services to a fully functional Hospital again as our resources can carry us”.
Dr. Okagua also hinted that the Board would carry out an overhaul of equipment at the Ngo General Hospital and replace anyone vandalized if need be.
“The Hospital was functioning before the incident, it was carrying out surgeries and treating Patients, those facilities are still there, of course we may need to do some services of some of the equipment, and we need to replace one or two of the equipment that were vandalized”.
On her part, the Director of Nursing Services of the Rivers State Hospital Management Board Mrs. Sampson O. Itari assured that Nurses would be deployed to the Ngo General Hospital in first week of January ahead of the planned resumption of healthcare services in Andoni.
The Andoni Council Boss Erastus Awortu promised to repair some broken fences of the hospital in addition to the remedial work carried out so far at the facility by his administration.
He also assured of uninterrupted healthcare services in Andoni under his watch.
Other officials of the Rivers State Hospital Management Board that were part of the inspection of the Ngo General Hospital include the Director of Medical and Dental Services Dr. I. D. Jaja and Dr. Nte Zachariah.
