Rivers gov approves N300m grant for resident doctors

Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has approved the release of over N300million as a grant to 389 medical doctors in the State Civil Service who are on residency training.

The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Adaeze Oreh, disclosed this while addressing newsmen in Port Harcourt Thursday evening.

The released fund will cover two consecutive years – 2023-2024 –  Residency Training Grant requirements with payments ranging from N800,000 to N900,000 per resident doctor for each year.

A total of 215 resident doctors received the funding for the year 2023, while 174 resident doctors have so far received the training grant in 2024 in the State.

By this action, the commissioner said Fubara has recommitted the resolve of his administration towards ensuring that the training initiative aimed at supporting the professional development of doctors, at both the Junior and Senior residency cadres, is not frustrated due to absence of the requisite grants that serve as enduring incentives to the health personnel.

She said Fubara particularly expressed the belief that with such support, the benefitting medical doctors will be dutiful with the residency training, which is an essential stage of graduate medical education to acquire the competence needed to enable them offer the best service while working in the employ of the state government.

Oreh acknowledged the importance of the course updates and components to the capacity of the personnel to address the challenges in quality healthcare delivery in the State. 

She said: “These are essential for doctors to stay current with the latest medical knowledge and practices, ensuring they can provide the best possible care to patients.

“Research is a critical component of medical training, and these funds help cover the costs associated with developing and presenting research proposals and dissertations.

“Also, travelling to examination centres can be costly, especially for doctors stationed in various parts of the State.

“For these examinations which are usually held outside the State, and in some cases, outside the country, this funding ensures that transportation costs do not hinder their ability to attend necessary examinations.”

On the  burden examination fees pose on medical personnel, she said, “The examination fees for the Parts I and II residency exams are very expensive, and by covering these fees, the government ensures that financial constraints do not prevent doctors from advancing in their careers.”

She thanked the governor for paying priority attention to the welfare needs of personnel in the health sector, explaining that the governor’s proactive action and political will to address critical issues that impede human capacity development was worthy of emulation. 

The commissioner emphasised that the gesture of Fubara, barely one year in office, will ultimately yield better health outcomes for Rivers people in particular and Nigerians at large.