By: Felix Ikpotor
Rivers State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Adaeze Chidinma Oreh has said that the Governor Siminialayi Fubara led administration is poised to providing a healthy and conducive environment for inmates at the Port Harcourt Correctional Maximum Centre.
Dr. Oreh stated this during a medical outreach organized by the Rivers State Branch of Nigerian Medical Association, MNA, at the centre to commemorate the birthday celebration of Governor Siminialayi Fubara.
The Commissioner while explaining the choice of the medical outreach noted that the correctional centre was chosen to give inmates quality healthcare services due to the congestion of the centre.
“Inmates by virtue of staying in an enclosure such as this are prone to certain health condition. That is why we used this opportunity to reach out to them and find out their health conditions; and address the prevalence conditions and use it as a means of screening to find out those who may be prone to non communicable diseases like hypertension and diabetes which is common in our environment, also to check their eye conditions too,” she said.
She further explained that there would be a routine vaccination for COVID-19 and other vaccinations that may be relevant based on the health history of some of the inmates.
The Commissioner also promised to enrol them on the state’s health insurance scheme.
“We recognize the fact that inmates in this correctional maximum centre are members of the vulnerable population so we would be looking towards getting them enrolled as our state health insurance kicks off so that they can benefit from financial access to quality health care,” Oreh stated.
Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) Rivers State Branch, Dr. Ebbi Robinson who wished the Governor a healthy birthday on behalf of NMA, however noted that the association decided to organize the outreach to honour the Governor on his birthday due to his continuous support to the health sector in the state.
Speaking earlier, the Deputy Comptroller of the Port Harcourt Correctional Maximum Centre, Mr. Baranaye Spiff commended the State Government and NMA for the outreach and further called for improvement of the health of the inmates and provision of conducive environment for them as well.
