Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti has emphasized his administration’s commitment to fully revitalize the state’s owned primary, secondary, and tertiary healthcare institutions to ensure citizens have access to quality healthcare.
Governor Otti who stated this during the official reopening of the rehabilitated and re-equipped Abia Specialist Hospital/ Eye Care Center Aba road and the Amachara General Hospital Umuahia, reaffirmed the present administration’s dedication to enhancing the state’s public health by improving access to quality, affordable healthcare services.
The Governor stressed that the decision is informed by the need to ensure that the citizenry would have access to quality healthcare in their various communities and eliminate the need for residents to travel outside the state for medical care.
He said that the state government was focused on reducing the burden of diseases in the state, provision of resources for appropriate strategies and multidisciplinary intervention to improve population health and described the rehabilitation of the hospital as a strategic move by the government to restore the confidence of the people in public health institutions.
Governor Otti who underlined the importance of quality healthcare noted that a healthy population remains the prime asset of any government and promised that the healthcare of the citizens would be a top priority under his leadership.
He added that the government had instituted a mechanism that would ensure that an effective maintenance culture would be enthroned in the health sector, especially in the management of health facilities and noted that the plans are underway to set up a wholistic mechanism for sanitizing drug distribution in the state.
“We are rolling out strategies and initiatives to control fake and substandard drugs and guarantee that drugs come into the state from a reliable source known for standard and effective products,” he said.
Governor Otti also vowed to prioritize the welfare of healthcare personnel by ensuring timely payment of salaries and legitimate entitlements and called for improved customer relationships between healthcare workers and patients.
He added that the government and the leadership of health Unions were engaged in discussions on coming up with better incentive packages for hardworking healthcare workers and expressed belief that “it will not only reduce the ‘Japa Syndrome’, but will attract healthcare professionals who are currently abroad”.
Governor Otti urged various communities in the state to take ownership of any government facilities in their locality to prevent vandalism, and warned that anyone caught vandalising government property would be made to face the full weight of the law.
In an address, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Ngozi Okoronkwo commended Governor Otti for rehabilitation and equipment of the hospital with state-of-the-art equipment and provision of quality healthcare services to the citizenry.
Dr Okoronkwo noted that the rehabilitation of the hospital was an indication that the reforms in the health sector would produce a better healthcare system in Abia and added that plans for further improvements in the healthcare sector are underway.
“We are just getting started with our plans for the health sector and as we roll out our plans, before the end of the first tenure of this administration you will see a truly transformed health sector, ” she added.
Earlier, the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Francis Agu, commended the state government for the massive reforms being executed in the health sector and noted that the reforms had yielded significant improvement in healthcare delivery services in the state.
He highlighted projects done by the present administration to include the modernization of the eye center, the completion and enhancement of the general outpatient department, the accident and emergency department upgrades at both Abia Specialist and Amachara General Hospital, as well as the expansion and modernization of two major theatres, among other initiatives.
