Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti has assured that the state government would cover the medical expenses of those affected by the recent truck accident in Aba.
Otti who made the disclosure, Wednesday, while addressing newsmen after visiting the accident victims at various hospitals in Aba said the move is intended to alleviate the financial burden on the victims and their families during their recovery process.
Recall that the accident which involved a Truck transporting a 40 feet container, an SUV and a tricycle occured on Tuesday morning at the Ogbor Hill axis of Aba leaving many with varying degrees of injuries.
The Governor, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Dr Caleb Ajagba, said that the present government holds the sanctity of lives in high esteemed and would ensure that the victims receive the best medical treatment.
“This incident is an emergency which the victims never prepared for and it will not be appropriate to allow them go through this level of pain and the pain of looking for money to pay for their medical bills.
“This government will take care of their medical bills and we have indicated to all the hospitals and their Chief Medical Directors, that they don’t need to bother the victims with the medical bills; the government will take care of it” , he said.
Otti emphasized that extensive and thorough investigation would be carried out to ascertain the immediate and remote causes of the accident to guide the government’s efforts to prevent future occurrence.
He said that the government had put in place an immediate measure for heavy duty trucks to ply the roads within the city at night to prevent future occurrence of automobile crashes.
The Governor added that a lot of stringent measures would be implemented following the outcome of the investigation being carried out to ascertain the cause of the accident with a view to ensuring the safety of citizens and preventing similar incidents in the future.
He said that there were 11 accident victims with various stages of bruises and injuries, with one casualty which could not be saved due to the heavy impact of the accident.
Otti, described the incident as unfortunate, but thanked God that the victims were responding to treatment and expressed hope that they would be discharged soon.
He also promised that efforts were being made to rehabilitate deplorable roads in the city for improved vehicular movement.
Prof John Chikezie
Responding, the Medical Directors of some of the hospitals visited including Prof. John Chikezie of the Abia State University Teaching Hospital ABSUTH, Dr. Patrick Okolo of the New Era Hospital and Dr. Emenike Chidi of Impact Hospital thanked the state government for assisting the accident victims and described the condition of the victims as stable.
The Doctors said that the victims were being given the best medicare and expressed hope that in no distant time, the victims would fully recover and be discharged.
They assured that they would do their best to ensure the victims would be nursed back to good health.
