Sopuruchi Onwuka
Nigeria LNG (NLNG) Limited flagged off its multi-billion-naira Hospital Support Programme (NLNG HSP) with Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with initial six out of 12 Nigerian teaching hospitals targeted in the scheme.
Managing Director of the gas liquefaction and export company, Mr Phillip Mshelbila, signed agreements with the management of hospitals selected as part in the first phase of the programme.
Over the weekend, NLNG signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital (RSUTH) to support a strong healthcare system in Rivers State.
The first set of sic hospitals, according to him, include Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Lagos; University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (UATH), Gwagwalada; Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) Kano; and University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin.
Others are University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), Calabar; and Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital (NDUTH), Yenagoa.
The second set of beneficiaries has not been declared by the company.
General Manager, External Relations and Sustainable Development at the NLNG, Mr Andy Odeh, said the 12 teaching hospitals to be patronized the NLNG HSP are selected from the six geographical zones in the country.
Mr Odeh said the HSP is the latest addition to several significant corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects the company has sustained as part of its operations.
Dr. Mshelbila said at the MoU signing ceremony that the HSPr was the company’s response to the pressure on the medical sector during the Covid-19 pandemic. He added that NLNG and its partners in the project would significantly impact the healthcare system in the country by improving the fitness status of the beneficiary medical facilities.
The NLNGHSP would not be the first time the company is intervening in the nation’s key tertiary institutions. The company said the programme is just another of its numerous CSR initiatives nationwide.
Mr Odeh pointed at the company’s concluded University Support Programme (USP) which involved construction and rehabilitation of modern engineering laboratories equipped with cutting-edge equipment in six universities at the University of Ibadan, University of Ilorin, University of Port-Harcourt, University of Maiduguri, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Dr. Osagie Ehanire, Minister of Health, represented by Director, Public Private Partnership and Diaspora Unit, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Omobolanle Rosemary Olowu; Deputy Managing Director, NLNG, Engr. Sadeeq Mai-Bornu, members of NLNG’s Extended Management Team and officials of the six teaching hospitals witnessed the signing of the MoU at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja.
Also at the signing of a separate MOU with the management of the RSUTH for the provision of a multi-million naira Infectious Diseases Unit in support of robust healthcare delivery in Rivers State, the NLNG had restated its resolve to support transformation of healthcare delivery in Nigeria.
Mr. Odeh stated that the RSUTH project was additional to several projects executed by the company in the healthcare sector.
According to him, NLNG continues to support the Bonny Community Health Insurance Programme (BCHIP) to help improve access to quality healthcare services for residents of Bonny Island.
He said some progress is being achieved in the Bonny Malaria Eradication Programme implemented in collaboration with U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to cut down malaria-related mortality among women and children under five and making Bonny Island Nigeria’s first malaria-free zone.
“NLNG and the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), are also involved in the HIV/AIDS Surge Project, which focuses on the control of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) on Bonny Island,” he stated.
