Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rivers on Saturday said that the 258-bed capacity Mother and Child Hospital in Port Harcourt would be completed in record time. Proposed to be a joint effort between NDDC and the state government, Wike said NDDC reneged on funding hence the state had to do it alone.

Wike gave the assurance when he led the State Executive Council members to inspect the facility and other ongoing projects in the city.

The governor stated in a statement issued in Port Harcourt by the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr Paulinus Nsirim, that the two-storey hospital was nearing completion.

He said the hospital was designed to have 50 delivery rooms and six modular theatres.

According to him, it will offer specialist services exclusively to mothers and children, when completed.

“So, within the next one month, we hope that all the equipment and furniture will be installed at the hospital.

“As a government, we are committed to improving our health facilities, so as to provide quality healthcare delivery in the state,” he said.

Wike was quoted to have directed the contractors handling the project to speed up work, hoping that the facility would be inaugurated before the end of the year.

He pointed out that the project was conceived by the state government in partnership with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

“But NDDC did not fulfill their own part of the agreement, and so, the state government decided to construct the facility because of its importance to the state.

“The project is the first mother and child Hospital in the South-South. It is a specialist hospital that will take care of children and our mothers.

“After inaugurating the hospital, it will be attached to the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital to also train doctors,” the governor further said.

He said that his administration had commenced the upgrade of hospitals in the three zones of the state.

He promised his commitment to address critical problems in the health sector of the state before the end of his administration.

“We will strive to improve on what we met on ground. When the rehabilitation of all the zonal hospitals is completed, healthcare delivery will receive a major boost,” Wike said. (NAN)