The Bayelsa Government said it had entered into partnership with an American medical facility services company, Medshare, for evaluation and maintenance of existing health facilities in the state-owned hospitals.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, Gov. Seriake Dickson disclosed this in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Francis Agbo in Bayelsa on Saturday.
Dickson said that the partnership with Medshare was for the equipping of six referral hospitals and other health centres in the state.
He said that the partnership also included repairs and maintenance of existing equipment, training of medical technicians, personnel and medical intervention teams to perform surgeries and other medical assistance programmes.
According to the governor, the strategic collaboration will ensure that Bayelsa has best medical facilities in Nigeria.
“When I took over as governor of Bayelsa in 2012, there was not a single functional heath centre in the local government areas,the one in Yenagoa, the state capital, was not operating at full capacity.
“Today, despite the country’s economic challenges, we have built six referral hospitals in six local government areas and are in the process of building two more.
“This is to ensure that we have one referral hospital in each local government area of the state.
“My desire is to have these hospitals operational by the end of this year and by next year.
‘’I plan to have a neighbourhood health centre in each of the wards of in the state to take healthcare closer to the people.
“I have also built one of the most sophisticated diagnostic centres in the country today.
“I have rebuilt the Government House clinic into a 100-bed public specialist hospital, fully equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and it is open to the general public,’’ Dickson said.
The governor said that his administration inherited a 500-bed hospital from his predecessors, but promised that it would be re-modelled to a 350-bed hospital with Medshare collaboration.
He requested for a team of specialists to immediately come to Nigeria to assess the facilities on ground, overhaul them, and make recommendations for the procurement of new equipment, if required.
Dickson said that his task was crucial in line with his ongoing medical tourism revolution, adding that the 350-bed hospital would be completed and inaugurated in 2018