FOC West task naval officers on regular medical checkup

…Commissions Sickbay at NNS Beecroft

By OKOSUN DENNIS

The Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Ferguson Bobai has called on officers and rating of the force to regularly check their blood pressure and sugar level to avoid sudden death.

He said this while responding to questions from defence correspondents during the commissioning of the re-modelled sickbay at the NNS Beecroft, Apapa, Lagos on Monday.

The sickbay, which is equipped with the state of the arts medical facilities, the FOC said the need to provide standard health facilities for personnel and family members makes it a necessity to upgrade the structure and equipment.

The sickbay is made up of waiting room; nursing station; hub room; pharmacy; theatre; radiology section; two wards; laboratory, physiotherapy department and consulting rooms, geared towards meeting the immediate health needs of personnel and civilian staff.

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Admiral Bobai explained that “The wellbeing of officers and ratings of the Nigerian Navy is very germane and fundamental. The efficiency of our personnel is important to us to be able to meet the task of securing our maritime space.

“They have the equipment to carry out every test except DNA test. On maintenance of the equipment; he pointed out that he would continuously monitor their operations to ensure that there are no lapses thereby sustaining the maintenance culture the navy is known for.

“This is an encouraging moment to see that we have a sick bay with this kind of equipment. I encourage personnel to avail themselves to check for their health challenges especially with increasing incidence of sudden deaths resulting from high blood pressure, diabetes and other health issues.

Present at the commissioning was the host, the Commander, NNS Beecroft, Commodore Abraham Adaji, the deputy Director, Naval Medical Services, Navy Captain Ahmed and other senior medical officers.