…As Bill Gets To Committee Stage
The Lawmaker representing Opobo/Nkoro Constituency in the Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon. Adonye Diri, has described the Rivers State Healthcare Facilities Registration Bill 2018 as laudable and capable of addressing health challenges, especially in the rural areas.
Speaking to news men shortly after the bill was committed to the Committee, the House Committee Chairman on Health stressed the need to take issues of health and what borders on the lives of people very seriously, noting that the Bill, when passed into law, will prevent quacks from embarking on such activities that endanger human lives.
Earlier, the Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Martin Amaewhule, while commencing debate on the Bill, stressed the need to sanitize the Health care delivery system in the State and expressed dismay that most health facilities are manned by quacks.
He said the bill, when passed into law, will regulate activities of dentists, herbal medicine practitioners, traditional birth attendants, pharmacists, medical laboratory scientists etc.
Hons Michael Chinda, Friday Nkee, Christian Ahiakwo and Innocent Barikor, in their respective submissions, said that there is need to consistently re-examine the key sectors in the State especially as the health care of the people is not static.
Supporting the bill, they called for the sanitization of the health care system in the State, which according to them has been highly bastardized.
The Speaker Rt. Hon. Ikuinyi Owaji Ibani, who noted that the Bill is seeking to regulate the Health Care delivery system in the State, eradicate quacks from the health sector, while ensuring standardization referred it to the House Committee on Health with the mandate to report back to the House in two weeks time.
Other bills referred to Committees are the Rivers State Arbitration Bill 2018; to the House Committee on Judiciary, Rivers State Multi door Court House 2018; to the House Committee on Judiciary and the Rivers State Heritage Preservation Bill 2018, which was referred to the House Committee on Culture and Tourism.
