Oghara Kingdom Wants Okowa To Stop Relocation Of DELSUTH To Warri

Dr.Ifeanyi Okowa, governor of Delta State has been called upon to use his good office to avert the rumoured relocation of the Delta State University Teaching Hospital, (DELSUTH), Oghara to Warri, Independent.ng reports.

The call was made by Oghara Elite Forum (OEF), a foremost socio-political group in Oghara Kingdom.

A statement signed by Chief Joseph Ogunje and Mr. Tedman Odugo,, President General and Secretary General, Oghara Elite Forum(OEF) respectively made available to journalists in Warri, noted with dismay the deliberate neglect of the health facility that is giving credence to the rumoured move to relocate it.

Also, the group appealed to Chief James Onanefe Ibori, former Governor of the State and a notable son of Oghara Kingdom who worked for the establishment of the Teaching Hospital in his community during his tenure as governor of the state to ensure that the health facility is not moved from Oghara.

Continuing, the group disclosed that relocation of fourth and fifth year students from Oghara to Warri Central Hospital and alleged relocation of Prof. Lawrence Omo-Aghoja, Provost, College of Medicine to Warri goes a long way to give credence to the rumoured relocation.

According to Oghara Elite Forum (OE),, ” by strokes of clear deliberate policies by the authorities in allege connivance with some internal enemies of the hospital and the community, the facility has been reduced to a lifeless body seriously gasping for breathe”.

Furthermore, the group noted that the Delta State University Teaching Hospital (DELSUTH), Oghara only exists in name with its core teaching mandates almost fully transferred to the Central Hospital, Warri against the spirit of the Act establishing it.

The group alleged, “it is on record that all Medical College structures that truly defines a teaching hospital which for the past twelve years has been deliberately denied the Teaching Hospital Oghara, have all been put in place in the Central Hospital, Warri. This includes, among other things:

A fully functional College/Faculty Building, Pharmacology and Pathology building, Medical students hostels,
Lecture theaters etc., such that whenever there is any accreditation exercise to be carried out by the relevant regulatory bodies, this will be the preferred choice leaving the teaching hospital in Oghara as a second choice.”

Speaking.further, they said “things have clearly moved from bad to worse under the current Provost of the College of Medicine, Prof. Lawrence Omo-Aghoja who has severally and openly allegedly insisted that the Medical College structures can never be brought to the Teaching Hospital, Oghara.”

“As we speak, Prof. Lawrence Omo-Aghoja in connivance with his clique of consultants (pro-relocation elements) in the hospital, the Ministry and other high offices in the state have relocated 4th and 5th year clinical classes to Central Hospital, Warri leaving only the 6th year in Oghara and which they are equally allegedly planning to relocate soonest, thus finally reducing the Teaching Hospital, Oghara to a worthless carcass and empty building,” the group said.

The group further added, ” Prof. Omo-Aghoja, Provost, Medical College has allegedly fully relocated his office to Warri and only comes to Oghara once in a long while to pick up some few things he left behind in his Oghara office that has for long been under lock and keys”

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Oghara Elite Forum accused Dr. Mordi Ononye, Commissioner for Health of working in concert with Prof. Omo-Aghoja and others over alleged deliberate plans and actions to openly deplete whatever remains of the Teaching Hospital facility and status.

They spoke further, “very sadly, the current Provost of the Medical College, Prof. Lawrence Omo-Aghoja working in concert with the Honourable Commissioner for Health, Dr. Mordi Ononye and other elements within the top echelons of the university are poised to see to the final internment of the Teaching Hospital, Oghara.”

The group added, “it is on record that monthly subventions were initially delayed and subsequently denied and this has been the most suffocating policy that has been visited on the hospital in the past few years. This is seriously affecting teaching, training and research as well as effective clinical services very adversely. Payments and refunds for update courses for residency training, update and refresher courses for consultants and other health care professionals have suffered very terrible setbacks on account of very poor and outright lack of funding.”

They complained that due to inadequate funding, most of the Hi-tech equipments installed by the Chief James Ibori led administration have all gone bad and packed up.

They noted, “from the foregoing, we are using this opportunity to call on the state governor, Dr. Okowa, Chief Ibori and all stakeholder to avert this rumoured relocation and subsequently release adequate funds regularly to place the facility on a sound footing.”

Contacted for government reaction, Mr. Ifeajika Olisa, Chief Press Secretary (C. P. S.) to Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, Governor of Delta State who spoke on phone said that government has no such plans to relocate the teaching hospital from Oghara.

According to Mr. Olisa, “how can the Delta State Government ever think of relocating the teaching hospital from Oghara? The government has done and still doing massive infrastructural development in the teaching hospital in Oghara. The facility in Oghara is a teaching hospital and the one in Warri is a Central hospital, so there is no way it can be relocated from Oghara to Warri.”

Also speaking when contacted via a Short Message Service(SMS) otherwise known as text message, Dr. Mordi Ononye, Commissioner for Health, Delta State who called back on his mobile phone expressed surprise at the rumour, saying that there is no iota of truth in the rumour.

According to Dr. Ononye, “there is no iota of truth in that rumour. Delta State Government is not planning to relocate the teaching hospital from Oghara to Warri. Delta State Government is working assiduously to ensure that the teaching hospital in Oghara is well funded to make it be a place of pride and academic excellence. It will not be relocated to Warri, it has come there to stay, all Government would be doing is to ensure it lives up to its billing as a first class teaching hospital in Nigeria.”

INDEPENDENT.NG