Fubara unveils new hospital, upgraded neuropsychiatric centre

Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, on Thursday inaugurated the newly upgraded Neuropsychiatric Hospital and a brand-new General Hospital at Rumuigbo in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state.

Speaking at the ceremony, Fubara said the projects were conceived following challenges he observed during an inspection visit to an existing but old mental health facility.

According to him, the Hospital Management Board had invited him to inspect the rehabilitation centre being built with limited overhead funds.

He said it was during the visit that he directed that the entire facility be rebuilt, modernised and upgraded.

“It was there and then that I said: Look, we have this very big compound, we need to rebuild, modernise and upgrade the standard of this Neuropsychiatric Hospital and that day, we started this journey,” Fubara said.

The governor recalled that the Neuropsychiatric Hospital was conceived in 1970 and inaugurated in 1977 with a 50-bed capacity, adding that one of the foremost doctors who managed the facility, the late Senator Martins Yellowe, later became a politician.

Fubara decried the state of the premises before the upgrade, saying it had become a hub for drug trafficking.

“This premises was a drug trafficking centre. We keep people in the Rehabilitation Centre, but some of our people innocently come here to play football while others are carrying bags to sell drugs to the inmates.

“But with what we have done today, I believe that the environment is secured, well-fenced and if you must enter here you must pass through the gates. So, to some extent, it will reduce these activities of drug trafficking in this premises,” he said.

The governor said the remodelled Neuropsychiatric Hospital had a 100-bed standard rehabilitation centre for people with mental health and substance abuse issues.

He explained that mental health challenges were often triggered by unemployment, depression and other psychological pressures.

Fubara stated, “Even in developed countries, they send people to Rehabilitation Centres and they help bring you back to normalcy. So what we have done here is to prepare for the current challenges of our time.”

On the General Hospital, Fubara said Obio/Akpor, being one of the largest local government areas in the state, deserved standard healthcare facilities beyond primary healthcare centres.

“We discovered that the only health services around here are the Primary Healthcare Centres. Tertiary healthcare can only be gotten if you go to the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) or the Braithwaite Memorial Hospital (BMH). We felt that Obio/Akpor deserves a General Hospital,” he said.

Fubara stated that with the new General Hospital, residents could now access treatment locally and only be referred to higher facilities when necessary.

The governor said his administration remained committed to the three pillars of a functional society: education, healthcare and housing.

“By the special grace of God, we are trying our best in these three most important areas,” he said.

He appealed to the LGA chairman and the host community to take ownership of the facilities and protect them from theft and vandalism.

“You’re the direct beneficiaries of it. Don’t say it is a government thing. It is in your place. Who knows, it might take you a long time to get something like this again,” Fubara charged.

The Chairman of Obio/Akpor LGA, Dr Gift Worlu, applauded the successful execution of the projects and commended Fubara for giving priority to the health of the people.

Worlu also acknowledged the need for a modern Neuropsychiatric Hospital in the locality, stressing that it would address mental health issues affecting the people.

The outgoing President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Afam Osigwe, who served as the Special Guest of Honour and performed the symbolic cutting of the ribbon to officially open the facilities, commended the Rivers State Government for investing in the health of the people.

He also hailed the emphasis Fubara had placed on mental health, saying the Neuropsychiatric Hospital occupied an important place in the management of mental health issues in any modern society.

Osigwe urged the public to refrain from stigmatising individuals seeking treatment at the facility, stressing that mental healthcare encompassed treatment for stress, depression and personal crises, rather than just severe psychiatric disorders.

The Permanent Secretary, Rivers State Ministry of Health, Dr Vincent Wachukwu, said the new General Hospital had basic units such as Accident and Emergency services, consulting rooms, a pharmacy, laboratory, X-ray rooms, delivery room, maternity, postnatal and antenatal wards.

Wachukwu disclosed that the new facility also housed an operating theatre, surgery recovery room, Central Sterilising Services Department, Intensive Care Unit, Newborn Intensive Care Unit, paediatric wards, male and female general wards of 50 beds each, private wards and administrative offices.

The Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Wachukwu disclosed, had consulting rooms, a pharmacy, laboratory, male and female 50-bed wards, a substance and drug-abuse rehabilitation centre, 50-bed private wards, administrative offices, recreational spaces and a meeting hall.

Additional facilities included an electroconvulsive therapy centre, ICT centre, canteen, mortuary, generator house, internal road networks and landscaping, a 216-bed students’ hostel and staff quarters comprising 12 two-bedroom apartments.

Wachukwu said both hospitals had been furnished with modern equipment for diagnosis and treatment and were each supported with a brand-new ambulance.