Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, has warned workers in public service to be residents in their areas of operation.

The Governor gave the warning on Sunday when he paid an unscheduled inspection visit to the Government Hospital, Patani council area of the state.

According to the Governor, workers in government hospitals and other government organisations have no excuse not to be resident in their areas of operations, stating that strident measures would be taken against anybody found wanting in his or her job.

“No matter the circumstance, light or no light, workers must find a way of living in their areas of operation,” he said, maintaining: “The fact that there is no light does not mean they should not reside at places they are posted to.”

He added: “Other Deltans resides in such places and they are comfortable, so the workers should re-adjust and be resident in their areas of operations, especially, those who work in our hospitals, when they are off duty, they have a right to go to wherever they want to go to but, when they are on duty, they must reside at their areas of operations.”

On his assessment of the level of work done at the hospital, the Governor expressed satisfaction, assuring that the hospital would be fully operational in the next couple of months.

His words: “In 2012 when we had the flood, Patani was badly affected and this hospital was seriously damaged, the immediate past state government awarded the contract for the renovation of the main building but when we came on board, we released funds for the contractor to enable him execute the project and also asked him to reconstruct the children's Ward.

“You can see the contractor had to put some pillars because the foundation was badly shaken and we hope he completes it soon, so that we can bring back life to this hospital which serves Deltans and our brothers and sisters in Bayelsa State because, if you take a look, most of the villages around here do not have health facilities and this hospital serves them all.”

The Governor gave Dr Emmamuel Uduaghan’s administration kudos for its efforts towards enhancing health facilities in the state, assuring that his administration was determined to make health facilities available to all Deltans with little or no stress.

Senator Okowa disclosed: “We have our health care programme which is on course but, I can say the immediate past government did a lot in the area of health care delivery, we will consolidate on the gains and improve on that while we look forward to starting the Delta State contributory health care scheme which will give coverage to as many as will be involved in it.

“The bill is already before the State House of Assembly, they have done public hearing and we hope it pass through third reading because that is the right way to go in terms of universal health coverage, that is the recommendation of the world health bodies,” he stated.