Diri: I Resisted Temptation To Site UNDP-Funded Hospital In My Village
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Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has said collaboration between the federal government and states is the panacea to attaining the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Governor Diri stated this on Monday at the inauguration of a 100-bed mother and child hospital built through partnership between the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs and the state’s SDGs office at Azikoro Town, Yenagoa.
Noting that while no government can function in isolation without the support of the other, the governor commended President Muhammadu Buhari for approving the health facility in the state.
He said the project, named Dr Aisha Buhari Mother and Child Hospital, would address infant and maternal mortality.
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He explained that although the state had a similar facility, it had to be converted to a COVID-19 centre at the height of the pandemic.
Senator Diri expressed the hope that the facility would be beneficial to people of the state, describing it as one of the fruitful results of the state’s collaboration with the federal government.
He thanked the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs, Dr (Mrs) Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, for ensuring the completion of the edifice.
His words: “There is no level of government that is standing alone. The federal government needs the states just as the states need the federal government. So when we partner, we are going to address a lot of the sustainable development goals.
“This is not the first mother and child hospital in the state. Chevron built a similar facility at the Bayelsa Medical University but during the height of COVID-19 we had to convert it to a COVID-19 hospital. Since then, we have had the need to provide for our mothers and children till this opportunity came and we grabbed it.
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“Even when the temptation came for me to site this project in my community, l looked at the indices of the population and its proximity to our mothers and I said it must be domiciled in Yenagoa.
“This facility will be very beneficial to us as a people. In fact, for me, this is one of the best things that has happened to us as a state. But like Oliver Twist, we look forward to collaborating for more.
“Now our women and children have a place for safe
