The Rivers State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Sampson Parker, in this year’s World Mental Health Day held and celebrated at the state Neuro Psychiatric Hospital, Rumuigbo, in Port Harcourt, has promised the people of the state, a new Neuro Psychiatric Hospital in no distant time, to be named after the late senator, Dr. Martins Yellow, who was the Chief Medical Director of the Hospital.
Dr. Parker made this declaration at theNeuroPsychiatric Hospitalduring the world Mental Health Day which incidentally fell on the same day of his birthday, saying he was a happy man to have his birthday on the day the whole world celebrates the mental Health day.
According to him, right from the inception of the state no living or dead governor ofRiversStatehas been so health friendly like Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, hence, he has directed that all the obsolete medical equipment in the Hospital be re-placed, and new standard equipment be made available for effective medical health delivery.
He also used the occasion to declare free mental health care for both indigenes and non-indigenes of Rivers State without restriction of age nor sex, but on the condition that the individuals pay their taxes regularly and contribute to the state social services scheme for the state government to have enough fund to carry out all its social services for the masses, saying, “the state government’s purse is lean, so people have to be responsible to pay their social levies to the government”
In his address, the medical Director of the Hospital, Dr. Ubigha Michael Osika, said time has really come for both the government and concerned individuals to invest in mental health, hence the theme of this year’s would mental Health day was “investing in mental health” but noted that the target result would be achieved, if the government continue to pay up service to health care delivery in the state.
He therefore urged the commissioner to take a serious look into the massive catalogue of challenges of the Hospital, as almost all the equipment in the Hospital are out-dated and out of tune of medical standard equipment used anywhere in the world today.
He noted that the cost of treating a mental patient was not only expensive, but the sufferer (patient) suffers isolation by the society and undergoes stigmatized life, even among his family members.
He decried the big gap between service delivery and the prevalence of mental disease in the country and called for an urgent attention by the authorities.
In his speech, the Chief Medical Director of Rivers State Health Management Board, Dr. Weli, thanked Amaechi’s government for being a health friendly government and stated the plan of the government to build six more modern Hospitals very soon, to be spread within the nooks and crannies of the state. ###
Jeff Oguike
