The Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC. has assured more support to the Rivers State Government towards providing health care services for people of the state.
Manager of Community Health in the oil Company, Dr Akinwumi Fajola, stated this when he led a health team from Shell company on a collaborative meeting with the Acting Executive Secretary of Rivers State Contributory Health Protection Program (RIVCHPP), Dr Vetty Agala, Saturday in Port Harcourt.
Represented by a public health physician for Community Health in SPDC, Dr. Aloni Alali, Fajola described SPDC as a very responsible organisation that cares for communities where they operate stressing that the organisation had supported the health system of the Niger Delta and the entire country in many different ways.
Dr. Fajola, who said that Obio Cottage Hospital is a flagship project powered by SPDC for which stakeholders are interested in having replicated in their various localities, announced that SPDC is interested in providing a kind of health insurance package for Rivers people in the axis of Akuku Toru Local Government Area.
He said the visit to the agency was to formally inform the Executive Secretary and introduce their third party agent, Excellence Community Education Welfare Scheme [ECEWS], a non-governmental organisation, to collaborate with the agency and to imbibe the successes of RIVCHPP in their operations.
In his remarks, the Chief Executive Officer of ECEWS, Dr. Andy Eyo said his organisation was very impressed with what is happening in the health sector of Rivers State, saying that ECEWS is always delighted seeing rural people going to hospitals for health care services because they have access already provided for them.
Dr. Eyo, who also used the opportunity to commend SPDC for its intervention in the healthcare needs of the people, said they were glad and humbled by the opportunity to partner with SPDC.
He promised to genuinely collaborate with RIVCHPP, assuring that quality health services are their watchword.
Receiving the health team, Acting Executive Secretary of Rivers State Contributory Health Protection Programme [RIVCHPP], Dr. Vetty Agala stressed the need for proper synergy to be established by organisations that want to collaborate in providing similar healthcare services to the people of the state.
Dr. Agala, who thanked SPDC for being interested in the health of the people of the State over time cited Obio Cottage Hospital, powered by SPDC as being a model over the years, especially in the provision of maternal and child health care leading to the reduction of maternal and infant mortality which is similar to the agency’s mandate.
Dr. Agala emphasised that the agency is excited by not just the partnership interest but also the structures put in place by SPDC to make more people in the State, especially those domiciled in the Akuku Toru Local Government Area of the State, to enjoy robust health care services without paying out of their pocket.
The RIVCHPP Chief announced that over 1000 vulnerable persons had already been enrolled to be accessing health care at Abonnema Model Health Centre, imploring SPDC and its agents to liaise with relevant authorities to improve human resources at the health facilities in their areas of interest.
She also appealed to the health team to make concerted efforts in getting to areas she described as the “hard to reach” communities of those Local Government Areas.
Dr. Agala stressed the need to avoid duplication of enrollees so that scarce resources would evenly be distributed to get more Rivers people enjoy the packages of SPDC and the government.
She maintained that the doors of the agency is open at all times for more collaboration, announcing that the agency already had an active digitalised system and redress platforms to enhance its mandate and performance.
