Against the fear that subsequent governments in Delta State may not sustain the medical facilities at the Delta State University Teaching Hospital (DELSUTH), Oghara, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan has said that nobody should nurse any fear as services rendered at the teaching hospital could be only improved.

Speaking at the commissioning of new Toshiba Excelart Vantage 1.5 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) System at the DELSUTH on Wednesday, Dr Uduaghan assured that Senator Ifeanyi Okowa would sustain the facilities at the hospital.

According to him, "the incoming administration will contribute to the growth of the hospital, as Commissioner for Health in the state, he supervised the building of the hospital, he knows the history and I know he will sustain the place and by the time he is leaving office, the hospital, no matter who will be coming in, will be running be able to operate with little assistance from government."

He expressed gratitude to God that despite challenges, the MRI which will facilitate quick diagnoses has been installed, saying: “To some extent, I have got the DELSUTH of my dream, despite the challenges, we have done a lot.”

“These challenges cannot be seen in any other part of the world, challenges of community interference, challenges of power supply, among others are not challenges you can find in hospitals in other parts of the world, these things are taken for granted in other places,” he said, noting: “For instance, this machine requires twenty four hours power supply, we have provided generators and made arrangements to ensure that there is constant power supply for the machine.”

While commending the management and staff of DELSUTH, and the host community, Governor Uduaghan observed that the installed MRI was among the few that has been installed in Nigeria.

Governor Uduaghan who used the occasion to hold a town hall meeting which involved the host community, patients and staff of the hospital, appealed to medical workers especially Doctors and Nurses to avoid strike actions because of its negative effects on patients.

“We are begging Doctors, Nurses and other medical workers not to go on strike because any time they are on strike, a lot of patients suffer,” he said.

Earlier, the Commissioner for Health in the state, Dr. Joseph Otumara disclosed that “Toshiba Excelart Vantage 1.5 Tesla MRI is a new MRI system, which is highly effective and dependable as a diagnostic tool, it circumvents challenges experienced with earlier MRIs and can provide very high resolution and excellent image quality of any part of the body with no discomfort to the patient," adding, "it is also very fast, producing results in half of the time of earlier MRIs, thus, with this equipment in place at DELSUTH, more lives and valuable time can be saved.”

“This will also guarantee reduced referrals for medical diagnosis/treatment outside the country to a very great extent, save patients, especially the incapacitated ones, a great deal of inconvenience and hardship associated with long distance travel,” he said.

The commissioner added: “I sincerely wish to thank the Governor of Delta State, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan for investing in the MRI, he has left no stone unturned and spared no expenses in ensuring that the health of Deltans remain of supreme importance to his administration since its commencement in the year, 2007.”

•Photo shows Uduaghan

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