Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State has pledged a comprehensive overhaul of all defunct general hospitals across the thirteen local government areas. The aim is to curb the alarming rate of fatalities in rural areas, particularly caused by unqualified practitioners.
Nwifuru, during an interaction with journalists at his residence in Ufuruekpe community, Izzi LGA, disclosed the allocation of over N11.2 billion for procuring equipment for these general hospitals.
Additionally, the Governor unveiled plans to separate the Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital (FTHA) to pave the way for the establishment of the state’s independent teaching hospital.
According to him: “We are taking our development according to sectors. We will go into the health sector fully. It will be a comprehensive overhaul.
“Comprehensive in the sense that everyone in the sector and the people of Ebonyi State will be satisfied. The staff will be happy, the management will be happy and our hospital will work.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has agreed to demerge the Federal Teaching Hospital and we will have our own state teaching hospital.
“The President also agreed to give us 100 consultants from the federal government. This was after I explained how to get the health sector working and how we intend to step it down in Ebonyi.
Nwifuru revealed that there will be a deployment of qualified consultants and medical doctors to the general hospital to boost healthcare delivery services in the rural areas of the state.
According to him: “We will have not less than five consultants and medical doctors in each of our general hospitals. We have paid around N11.2 billion to equip all general hospitals and in doing that, we will have four specialist hospitals one per zone” he stated.
