UPTH CMD lauds Tinubu over N10bn Ebola fund

The Chief Medical Director/Chief Executive Officer of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Prof. Chituru Orluwene had commended President Bola Tinubu for approving N10 billion for the prevention of Ebola virus in Nigeria.

Recall that recent cases of Ebola have been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, raising concerns about possible spread of the virus to other African countries.

Orluwene made the commendation while speaking at a UPTH Management Retreat on Strategic Planning in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Orluwene said the action by the President shows his administration places top priority on healthcare and described it as a necessary proactive measure.

“I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President and Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for giving me the opportunity to serve in this capacity. Not only that, but for placing healthcare as one of the greatest pillars of the Renewed Hope Agenda of this administration.

“And quite recently he has made available the sum of N10 billion to combat the resurgence of Ebola in Nigeria so that we start to prepare before it comes in. That is what any reasonable government should do. We must be proactive and not reactive; and that is what the President has done,” the CMD stated.

He said since its establishment, the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital has stood as a beacon of tertiary healthcare in the South-South geo-political zone and the country at large.

“It (UPTH) has trained generations of healthcare professionals, saved countless lives, and served as the last hope for many who had nowhere else to turn,” he said.

He said like many other public health institutions in Nigeria, UPTH is grappling with infrastructural deficits, funding constraints, equipment challenges and human resource gaps.

The CMD said, “The expectations of our patients, our communities, our regulatory authorities, and our supervising ministry are enormous – and rightly so. It is against this backdrop that my administration has committed to a rigorous, evidence-based, participatory process of strategic planning that will produce not only a document to be shelves, but a living roadmap to guide our decisions, investments and actions for the next five years”.