The Executive Secretary, Rivers State Contributory Health Protection Programme (RIVCHPP), Dr. Vetty Agala has reiterated that the body will continue to work and collaborate with other stakeholders in the health sector to ensure that citizens and residents of the state have access to quality and affordable healthcare services.
Dr. Agala, who gave the assurance in her goodwill message at the launch of the dental and physiotherapy units at Kelsey Harrison Hospital in Port Harcourt, on Monday 18th August, 2025, described, as a great feat, the initiative by the Rivers State Health Management Board.
A statement signed by Idaye Oruigoni, Head, Information/Media Unit of the RIVCHPP, indicated that the Executive Secretary assured that the health insurance agency would leverage the collaborations between the Hospitals Management Board and National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to expand care to its enrollees at all the general hospitals in the state, including the Kelsy Harrison Hospital.
The excited Dr. Agala said by the launch of the new units at the hospital that the hospital is now a one-stop shop for enrollees of RIVCHPP that may be referred to the hospital.
The RIVCHPP Executive Secretary announced that RIVCHPP would liaise with the heads of health facilities to work out modalities on how the agency’s enrollees can access care at the general hospitals. She thanked the Rivers State Government for giving the executive order to enrol the formal sector and pensioners into the programme.
Dr. Agala also used the medium to announce that RIVCHPP has started enrolling pensioners into its scheme, expressing optimism that from September, 2025, pensioners will begin to access health care services throughout the 23 Local Government Areas of the state.
In his remarks, the Senior Special Assistant to the Rivers State Administrator on Health, Prof. Chituru G Orlunwene commended the Chief Medical Director of Hospital’s Management Board for his ingenuity, describing the launch of the new units at the hospital as a “show of capacity, and unbridled dexterity in leadership.”
Prof. Orlunwene decried the moribund nature of the referral system in the health sector in the state, describing the launch of the new units as a revitalised and reinvigorated approach to the system..
Earlier in his remarks, the Chief Medical Director of Kelsey Harrison Hospital, Dr. Bright Ogbonda said that the board and the hospital decided to enlarge the units of the hospital and to provide solar lighting to the hospital to meet the dire health needs of the people of the state.
