From Seyi Tayese, Yenagoa
The state-owned 500-bed hospital located at the main campus of Bayelsa Medical University in Yenagoa is to be upgraded to a full-fledged teaching hospital to meet the academic needs of students of the institution.
The Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, disclosed this on Thursday 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 government had already set in motion the machinery to holistically address the wage-related issues.
Responding specifically to the issue of no functional MRI facility in any of all the hospitals in the state, the Bayelsa Number Two Man said the development was a matter of serious concern, promising that government would look into it.
On the issue of power supply, Senator Ewhrudjakpo assured members of the NMA of government’s ongoing efforts to provide a 60 mega watts 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 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 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.
