TheBayelsa State Government on Saturday announced it has entered into a partnershipwith Medsharefor evaluation and maintanance of existing health machines for an undisclosed amount.Medshare isan American medical facilities services company.

In a press release signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Francis Agbo,Governor Seriake Dickson said the partnership with Medshare is for the equipping of six referral hospitals and other health centres in the state.

Accordong to the statement, the partnership included repair and maintenance of existing equipment, training of medical technicians and personnel as well as medical intervention teams to perform surgeries and other medical assistance programmes.

The statement stated that Dickson was conducted on a facility tour ofMedshareby the President/Chief Executive Officer, Charles Redding, and the Vice President, Corporate and International Relations, Nell Diallo.

According to the statement, the strategic collaboration would ensure that the state had the best medical facilities in Nigeria and quoted Dickson as saying:

"When I took over as Governor of Bayelsa State in 2012, there was not a single functional heath centre in the local government areas of the state and the one in Yenagoa, the state capital, was not operating at full capacity.

“Today, despite the challenging recession facing the country, we have built six referral hospitals in six local government areas and are in the process of building two more in order to have one in each local government area of the state.

“My desire is to have these hospitals operational by the end of this year and by next year, I plan to have a neighbourhood health centre in each of the wards of the state in order to take healthcare closer to the people.

“I have also built one of the most sophisticated diagnostic centres in the country today. I have rebuilt the Government House clinic into a 100-bed public specialist hospital, fully equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and it is open to the general public,” the governor said.

It further quoted Dickson as saying that his administration will give the 500-bed hospital, which has been re-modelled to a 350-bed hospital that he inherited form his predecessors, special attention working hand in hand with Medshare.

He reportedly requested for a team of specialists to immediately come to Nigeria to access the equipment and facilities on ground, overhaul them to ensure they are operational and make recommendations for the procurement of new equipment that may be required.

The Governor was quoted as saying that this task was crucial in line with his ongoing medical tourism revolution and that the hospital will be completed and commissioned next year.