Wike Rates RSUTH Best Teaching Hospital in Nigeria

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has rated the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital as the best medical facility in Nigeria.

Wike said the investment his administration has made in the health sector is strengthening the capacity of the specialist hospital in the training of medical personnel, research and medical innovations.

The governor stated this yesterday at the inauguration of twin buildings which house the Faculty of Basic Clinical Sciences and the Faculty of Clinical Sciences performed by the Chairman of Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, Prof. Abba Hassan, in Port Harcourt.

He said: “Go to the University Teaching Hospital, it has the best equipment you can talk about. I don’t see any teaching hospital in this country today that can be compared with what we have at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital.”

Wike noted that several other separate health service providing facilities are integrated into the teaching hospital for holistic service delivery.

The governor enthused that even the medical personnel and students alike do have the best of medical equipment that would expose them to contemporary medical practice.

Wike disclosed that soon, the Renal Centre and the hostel for medical house officers that have been completed, would soon be inaugurated.

He, however, charged the teachers and students to take their work and studies seriously in order to sustain excellence in the health sector.

According to him, “We will soon inaugurate the Renal Centre and the house officers’ hostel, which have been completed and furnished.

“But it beats my imagination that a teaching hospital has no Renal Centre. Go and see the Mother and Child Hospital, the gynecology and paediatric sections. Those of you who will be using the teaching hospital for your learning, you are getting the best equipment for your practical. What you see overseas is what you are seeing here.

“So, you must count yourselves lucky that you came at a time you won’t say we don’t have laboratory. You have everything now. So, there will be no excuse from you. All you need to do is to concentrate.”

Wike also reassured them that he will not leave office without completing projects his administration has awarded. But should any be left without being inaugurated, he was confident that his successor will, in the spirit of continuity, completed them for inauguration.

Speaking further, the governor directed the state commissioner for Special Projects to visit the site for building of hostels for medical students of the Rivers State University and assess what is required to complete the project in the next two months.

He also insisted that the Pathology Department of the university should be ready for inauguration in January 2023.

Performing the inauguration of the project, the Chairman of Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), Prof. Abba Hassan, noted the audacity of Wike to sustain regular training of over 300 medical and other auxiliary staff.

These, he said, are also paid regularly higher than any government, including the federal government.

“Governor Wike has invested satisfactorily in this entire tripod starting with the development of manpower in the health sector, giving a foundation to sustain the investment in the infrastructure and equipment procurement,” Hassan said.

In his speech, the Vice Chancellor of the Rivers State University, Prof. Nlerum Okogbule, said the university is appreciative of the sagacity and commitment shown by Governor Wike towards the improvement of medical study and services in the institution.