The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has said that Nigeria has “all it takes” to ensure that the health system gets a facelift.
Wike said that the country needed to focus its resources on existing doctors, giving them the necessary “training and retraining”.
He said this after a tour of facilities under construction at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt.
The facilities include the Dr. peter Odili Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease Diagnostic and Treatment Centre; the Renal and Pathology Departments; and the Basic Clinical Sciences and Clinical Sciences.
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He said, “How many people can afford traveling overseas. We have all it takes to improve on our health sector, to provide the necessary facilities. We have our doctors, all we need to do is training and retraining them.
“Look at Government House Hospital (Port Harcourt), look at how people troop in there, because the basic facilities are there and the doctors are willing, committed to work because of the environment they have found themselves.
“If you give our people the required environment and give them the facilities, the tools to work, there is no need for us travelling to overseas. When people come to Government House Clinic, they look at the facilities and say is it not what we see overseas. So we can replicate it here in Nigeria.
“So my own motivation is that if I have the opportunity to travel overseas, what about others who does not have the opportunity to travel overseas. Must they die simply because they don’t have the opportunity?
“It is the obligation of the government to make sure that our citizens are given the best in terms of protecting their lives. It is the responsibility of the government to protect lives.
“So for me, it is our responsibility and so we must do everything we can to see that we save the lives of our people by making sure that our healthcare delivery system is working and the doctors are also given the best for them to work.”
