Health, they say, is wealth. This proverbial saying has remained sacrosanct and incontrovertible over the years due to the importance of healthy living in relationship with creation of wealth.
Indubitably, no one thinks of creating wealth if he or she is medically unfit. This applies to a nation, state, local government or even down to the nuclear family. If the citizens of a state are struck with ailments, that state cannot be productive because the productivity of any state is society dependent on the healthiness of the workforce.
Unarguably, it is on this backdrop that every responsible government ensures that its health care sector is kept functional to keep the people healthy so as to be productive.
It is based on the above scenario that the people of Bayelsa State are worried that the multi-billion naira Bayelsa Diagnostic Centre built by former Governor Seriake Dickson has been under lock and keys for about two years.
The state owned state-of-the-art diagnostic centre is a world class facility built to provide quality and affordable health screening and diagnostic care. It provides patients oriented care by means of accurate and reliable tests. The health facility is filled with up to date equipment for laboratory and radiologic diagnostic services in line with international best practices.
Available services at the centre include: radiology, pathology, cardiology, optometry, wellness, Computed Tomography (CT) scan duplex scanning and ultra sound.
Within the period it was put to use, the Bayelsa Diagnostic Centre turned the state to a medical tourist haven as the high and the low travelled from far and near to the state for various medical test. Prominent amongst callers to the health facility was former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who upon his visit, vowed to cut off his trips aboard and publicly made the Bayelsa Diagnostic Centre his preferred test facility.
However, Chief Obasanjo and many other subscribers to the facility including Bayelsans are currently living in shock and disappointment following the closure of the centre which was built with billions of tax payers’ money.
As it stands, the closure of the health facility remains a mystery as no government official past and present has been able to give cogent reasons why the place went under lock and keys, thereby depriving Bayelsans access to good and affordable medical checkups as well as causing reduced internal revenue generation.
On his part, the immediate past governor and executor of the project has told` this medium in a telephone chat to inquire from governor Douye Diri and the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Pabara Igwele why the centre is closed down because he (Dickson) is no more in government.
On the other hand, senator Diri has kept mum while the commissioner for Health admits to Niger Delta Herald that there is much to the closure of the diagnostic centre than meets the eyes.
In the same vein, the consultant firm, Trigen which was in charge of the running of the centre told this medium about three months ago that all is well and that the place was going to be reopen in a week’s time but all to no avail.
To us in Niger Delta Herald, the perpetual closure of the Bayelsa Diagnostic Centre with no convincing reason is unacceptable. The act, in the eyes of well meaning Bayelsans and beyond, is that the state government as insensitive to the health plights of the people.
Therefore, Governor Douye Diri should as a matter of urgency, set up a high powered committee to embark on a discreet investigation with a view to unravelling the mystery behind the abandonment of the multi-billion naira facility.
There is the urgent need for the reopening of the Bayelsa Diagnostic Centre because the State cannot afford to be losing millions of naira due to the closure of the medical facility and in another breath be wailing because of paucity of funds.
About Author
