Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, has disclosed that the state University Teaching Hospital, Oghara, would start kidney transplant in February, just as he acknowledged the increase in medical tourism to the state.

Uduaghan, who stated this on Tuesday night during a radio/television/phone-in-programme at the Delta Broadcasting Service, Asaba, said that the state government is benefiting from its partnership with the University of Texas Teaching Hospital, Dallas, with some of its doctors and nurses undergoing training on renal issues and treatment in Dallas.

“Hopefully by February next year, the Renal Unit of the State University Teaching Hospital will start kidney transplant in Oghara in conjunction with the Texas University Teaching Hospital”, he stated.

He said that there has been an increased medical tourism to the state due to the ultra-modern facilities at the State University Teaching Hospital, Oghara.

Uduaghan revealed that as a result of the pressure on the hospital facilities and personnel, an additional 300 bed-facility would soon be added to the University Teaching Hospital, stressing that this would ease the pressure on the hospital for medical attention and reduce the waiting time for beds, especially for surgical cases.

He explained that the various health programmes in the state especially the Free Maternal and Rural Health Scheme, have benefited both Deltans and non-Deltans alike especially the poor and needy in the state, stating: “the programme is open to all Nigerians irrespective of states and tribes in the spirit of brotherliness and peaceful co-existence.

“As a trained doctor, it will be harsh and inhuman for me to turn back a pregnant woman from the state free maternal programme because she is a non-Deltan. We are all Nigerians and we have to help ourselves in areas of need,” he said.

Uduaghan explained that the state was paying more attention to primary healthcare in order to reduce the pressure on the secondary and tertiary healthcare levels.

On the contributory pension scheme in the state, the governor disclosed that his administration has contributed over N15 billion to the scheme for civil servants in the state since 2007, explaining that the state government has not defaulted in its contributions to the scheme.

He said that government was looking into the challenges faced in the payment of gratuity and pension of retirees in the state since 2011, especially those in the transitional stages between the old and new pension scheme and would be sorted out soon.