By Asma’u Ahmad
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has sent a bill on Rivers Health Insurance Scheme (RHIS) to the state legislature for consideration.
The Director of Public Health at the state Ministry of Health, Dr Nnnana Chiyere, stated this while speaking with newsmen on Monday in Port Harcourt, the state capital. He said the free medical health programme of former Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi administration had been suspended.
Governor Nyesom Wike
“The free medical programme is over with the previous government because it is not sustainable. No government can sustain such a programme, so Governor Wike is trying to set up the Rivers Health Insurance Scheme. The bill has been sent to the state House of Assembly to make it a law,” he said.
The director warned the public against eating food in an unhygienic environment for them to remain healthy. Dr Chiyere, who was reacting to the filthy environments in which some food vendors were operating, said that the flies that perched on food could cause diseases for the consumers.
According to him, cooking and selling of food in dirty places could portray how decent the sellers and consumers are.
Newsmen report that food vendors operate at untidy environments, the practice which the ministry was trying to eradicate by preaching cleanliness to the vendors.
One of such places is under Isaac Boro Park flyover in Port Harcourt, where cooking, eating and plaiting of hair take place very close to a stagnant and dirty pool of water.
