Diri, Sylva lay foundation for 200-bed hospital

John Ofikhenua, Abuja and Nicholas Ogunde, Yenagoa

OIL and Gas Industry Intervention Initiative on COVID-19, led by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), at the weekend performed the ground-breaking of a permanent 200-bed Emergency and Infectious Diseases Hospital for the Southsouth in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.

When completed, the facility will offer general medical services to the public as well as a disease control centre, diagnostic laboratory and 150 to 200-bed spaces scalable on both flanks and behind.

A statement in Abuja by NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Dr. Kennie Obateru, said the event was meant to prepare the ground by the intervention group to deliver lasting medical infrastructure in the nation’s six geopolitical zones.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, affirmed that the project was part of the coalition’s initiative to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

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He reiterated that the Oil industry was contributing about N21 billion worth of support provided through internal procurement processes of contributing companies.

Sylva said Bayelsa State was considered a suitable site for the project, given its pioneering role in the history of Oil and Gas in the country and its current contribution of about 40 per cent to onshore crude oil output.

Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri described the COVID-19 pandemic as the defining global health predicament of our time and the greatest challenge faced in several generations.