Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) said it remains committed to the capacity building of health professionals to render quality and affordable healthcare services in the Niger Delta.
The Head, Corporate Relations, SPDC, Igo Weli, disclosed this Friday at the ongoing Quality Improvement Training for healthcare professionals from select public hospitals in Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers states.
The oil firm also donated two ambulances and solar powered vacine freezers to Edagbebiri Cottage Hospital in Rivers and Otuasega Cottage Hospital in Bayelsa.
The ambulances are equiped with mini intensive care units.
Weli, who was represented by the Corporate Relations Manager, West, SPDC, Amaechi Ijeoma, said that the company and its joint venture partnes had supported over 27 public health facilities across the region.
He explained that the supports were in the areas of infrastructure upgrade, health systems strenghtening, equipment and supplies and capacity building.
Weli said: “As a company, SPDC understands the role of quality healthcare service in improving overall health outcome and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“Hence as part of the organisation’s commitments to its host communities, we started the quality improvement journey across all the supported health facilities.”
According to him, health improvement in healthcare facility requires systemic and continuous actions that lead to measurable improvement in the degree to which the healthcare delivered reflects professional knowledge and standards.
Chief Medical Director, Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital (NDUTH), Prof Dimie Ogoina, noted that the quality improvement scheme at NDUTH had pushed up performance from 24 per cent in 2014 to 57 per cent in 2018.
Ogoina, who is a resource person in the capacity building component said that NDUTH aimed to be the first public hospital to get international certification for quality improvement in Nigeria.
Presenting the ambulances and vaccine storage freezers, Group General Manager of NAPIMS, the investment arm of NNPC Limited, Bala Wunti, said the gesture was to bring the benefits of oil exploration to Nigerians.
Wunti, who was represented by Bumi Lawson, a Director at NAPIM, urged the management of the benefiting health facilities to deploy the items judiciously in a responsible manner.
On his part, Permanent Secretary, Bayelsa Ministry of Health, Dr Ajoebi Oluwalobi, applauded the donors for the ongoing support to the health sector and appealed to them to sustain the trend.
Over 60 medical professionals from benefitting public medical facilities from Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers States are participating in the training holding in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.