The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has commissioned a 60-bed Reference Hospital in Port Harcourt. The Hospital is equipped with sophisticated modern facilities including CT Scan, Renal Dialysis Machine, a fully equipped medical laboratory as well as dental and eye centres.

Air Commodore Olatokunbo Adesanya, NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, in a statement on Sunday, disclosed that the new hospital was constructed to provide medical care for military personnel and their dependants as well as members of the host communities within the country’s South-south region.

According to Senator Duro Faseyi, Chairman, Senate Committee on Air Force, who performed the commissioning ceremony, the project was among several others carried out under the leadership of the incumbent Chief of the Air Staff (CAS).

He noted, with delight, that other hospital projects, ultra-modern housing units, in addition to recreational and sporting facilities, have been commissioned in virtually every command and unit in the NAF.

In his remarks, the CAS, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, revealed that the need to reposition the NAF for better service delivery has led to the establishment of new commands and units with a resultant increase in the number of personnel and their dependants.

The consequent rise in the medical care needs of personnel and their families resulted in the upgrading and expansion of 31 medical facilities including the medical centres at Kainji, Enugu, Ipetu-Ijesha, Benin, Kano, Abuja, Makurdi and Warri. He added that appropriate additional medical staff, including 36 nurses, had been shortlisted as support staff for the newly commissioned hospital and other upgraded medical facilities to enhance service delivery. Furthermore, Air Marshal Abubakar said that the new hospital would serve as a clinical research and resource bank for interns and other health professionals.

The CAS equally expressed his appreciation to the Senate and House Committees on the Air Force for making a case, on behalf of the NAF, for resources appropriated to execute the project.

In his welcome remarks, the Air Officer Commanding, Tactical Air Command, Air Vice Marshal Mohammed Idris, stated that the involvement of NAF 115 Special Operations Group, Port Harcourt in several operations in the South-South required a commensurate medical facility to address the healthcare needs of personnel, their families and members of the host communities. It would be recalled that another Reference Hospital had been commissioned in Bauchi, as part of the NAF’s efforts to boost the welfare of her personnel while also attending to the needs of Internally Displaced Persons in the North-East.

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