Mr Fubara disclosed this on Thursday while commissioning the newly upgraded neuropsychiatric hospital alongside a new General Hospital in Rumuigbo.
Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara has said the premises of the state’s Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Rumuigbo, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, were previously used as a centre for drug trafficking.
His remarks were contained in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday by his spokesperson, Onwuka Nzeshi.
According to Mr Fubara, the neuropsychiatric hospital had become a location where drugs were supplied to inmates undergoing rehabilitation.
These premises were a drug trafficking centre. We keep people in the Rehabilitation Centre, but some of our people innocently come here to play football while others are carrying bags to sell drugs to the inmates,” the governor said.
He said the situation prompted his administration to secure the premises by fencing the facility and restricting access through designated gates.
Mr Fubara said the decision to rebuild and upgrade the hospital followed an inspection visit to the facility.
He said the Hospital Management Board had invited him to inspect a rehabilitation centre being constructed with limited overhead funds.
“It was there and then that I said: Look, we have this very big compound, we need to rebuild, modernise and upgrade the standard of this neuropsychiatric hospital and that day, we started this journey,” he said.
The governor said the neuropsychiatric hospital was conceived in 1970 and commissioned in 1977 with a 50-bed capacity.
Following the upgrade, he said the facility now has a 100-bed standard rehabilitation centre for people dealing with mental health and substance abuse challenges.
Mr Fubara said unemployment, depression and other psychological pressures contribute to mental health challenges, stressing the need for rehabilitation facilities to address the problems.
“Even in developed countries, they send people to rehabilitation centres, and they help bring you back to normalcy. So, what we have done here is to prepare for the current challenges of our time,” he said.
On the new general hospital, Mr Fubara said Obio/Akpor, one of the largest local government areas in the state, deserved a standard healthcare facility beyond primary healthcare centres.
He said residents previously had to travel to the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital or Braithwaite Memorial Hospital for higher-level medical services.
“With the new general hospital, residents can now access treatment locally and only be referred to higher facilities when necessary,” he said.
The permanent secretary of the Rivers State Ministry of Health, Vincent Wachukwu, said the hospital has accident and emergency services, consulting rooms, a pharmacy, a laboratory, X-ray rooms, a delivery room, and maternity, postnatal, and antenatal wards.
The facility also has an operating theatre, a surgical recovery room, an intensive care unit, a newborn intensive care unit, paediatric wards, male and female general wards with 50 beds each, private wards, and administrative offices.
Mr Wachukwu said the Neuropsychiatric Hospital has consulting rooms, a pharmacy, a laboratory, male and female 50-bed wards, a substance and drug-abuse rehabilitation centre, 50-bed private wards, recreational spaces, and a meeting hall.
Other facilities include an electroconvulsive therapy centre, an ICT centre, a canteen, a mortuary, a generator house, internal road networks, and landscaping.
The complex also has a 216-bed students’ hostel and staff quarters comprising 12 two-bedroom apartments.
Mr Wachukwu said both hospitals were equipped with modern diagnostic and treatment equipment, and each was provided with a new ambulance.
The complex is supported by a 500KVA transformer, a 350KVA generating set and solar panels with inverter batteries providing 120KVA.
The outgoing President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Afam Osigwe, who performed the ribbon-cutting, commended the Rivers State Government for investing in healthcare and prioritising mental health.
Mr Osigwe urged the public to stop stigmatising people seeking mental healthcare, saying such care encompasses stress, depression and personal crises and is not limited to severe psychiatric disorders.
Mr Fubara also urged the Obio/Akpor council chairman and the host community to take ownership of the facilities and protect them from theft and vandalism.
