The Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Professor Nelson Brambaifa, has said that the Commission will partner with the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, to provide free health care to rural communities in the Niger Delta region.
Brambaifa said this when a delegation from the NMA Rivers State Branch, led by the Vice Chairman, Dr Ebbi Robinson, paid him a courtesy visit at the NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt.
The NDDC Chief Executive Officer said that as an interventionist agency, the Commission would always collaborate with experts to provide adequate health care for rural communities in the Niger Delta region, as part of its commitment to enhance better healthcare delivery to the people.
Brambaifa assured the NMA of the support of the NDDC in training and retraining of medical personnel, noting that it was necessary to bridge the gap in healthcare delivery in the Niger Delta by taking medical experts to the various communities.
The NDDC boss stated that the Commission was determined to make a difference in the health sector through the engagement of relevant partners. He observed that many people had benefited from the free medical services organized by the Commission to address various health issues. According to him, the NDDC had always made efforts to bring healthcare to the door-steps of rural dwellers.
He said that the NDDC free medical mission made it possible to assemble medical experts in different areas of specialization to attend to the needs of people who would otherwise not have access to such highly qualified medical personnel.
Earlier in his remarks, the Vice Chairman of NMA, Dr Ebbi Robinson, commended the NDDC for promoting health-related programmes that help to reduce the medical challenges facing the people of the region.
He said: “We want to partner with NDDC in manpower development in the health sector. There is need to sponsor the training of specialties in the medical sector and we need the support of the NDDC in training and retraining of medical personnel.”
Robinson said the NMA was making arrangements for its Annual General Meeting, AGM, in the Rivers State capital and would, therefore, require the support of the NDDC. He said that the progamme for the AGM would include free health services for members of the public and a community outreach programme.