Abia State Government has said that the conditions of some of the health facilities it inherited from the immediate past government in Aba, the commercial hub of the state are too bad and can best be described as disaster waiting to happen.
This is even as the newly appointed Commissioner for Health, Dr Ngozi Okoronkwo declared the newly constructed Abia Multi-Specialist Hospital in Aba unfit to be a hospital.
Okoronkwo during a tour of the health facilities in Aba with journalists said the building located in the premises of the Old Aba General Hospital lacked everything that should qualify it to be called a hospital.
She said that there is an obvious structural error in the design and construction, stressing that the building is muddy, flooded with no proper ventilation and will require a serious structural assessment to ascertain its capability to function as a hospital.
“This is bad. The structure is poorly done, and the design approach is poorly done. Some of the available equipment are scattered all over the place and nobody can ascertain if they are working or not.
“The idea of coming here was to ascertain if the hospital was ready for use, but from what I’ve seen here today, I can say that it’ll take awhile. From my assessment, I have to take the information back to the Governor so we can know where we’ll take it from there.”
Okoronkwo however said that the government aims to retain the structure as the Aba General Hospital, since the Old Hospital has been knocked down, but stressed that with existing errors in the building design and doubt over its standard, she doubts if it can serve as a General Hospital.
She said that the Abia State Government does not have any intention of removing the Aba General Hospital from its current location or turning the building into another multipurpose hospital since the Abia State University Teaching Hospital ABSUTH) is already serving that purpose.
“The government intends to return the hospital to what it used to be which is the Aba General Hospital “We have the ABSUTH, which will serve as a referral centre and multipurpose hospital as well, General Hospital is very key to serving the underserved.
“It’s an important part of the system and the entire health facility structure for the state and we cannot for any reason discard this place or take the General Hospital out of this place. So, we need to look at the building.
“For general hospital, should be simplified. It should not be complicated, we should be able to navigate the general hospital, it should be simplified, ground floor, easy to assess, and easy to navigate and in that way, everybody should be able to go around without asking many questions.
“Honestly, with this structure we have here I’m really doubtful, but I need to speak with the management to see what’s next,” she said.
Okoronkwo while talking about the condition of the Abayi-Cottage Hospital in World Bank Housing Estate, Osisioma Local Government Area within Aba said, “Nobody should come here to be seen by anybody.”
She explained that the Governor declared a state of emergency in health Education and waste management, but the health sector cannot wait, otherwise, people’s lives will be affected.
Okoronkwo said that the governor instructed that three general hospitals within the three senatorial zones be renovated and revitalized within his first 100 days in office.
She said that they wanted to start with the Aba General Hospital, but the structure will have to be revalued and that they can adopt Abayi Cottage Hospital as the second option to revitalise within the next 100 days in office.
The Commissioner however lamented that what is available in Abayi is very bad and not habitable as the place is a disaster waiting to happen.
She however stressed that what is important to the government now in the health sector is to make the hospital functional and habitable, as nobody should be found consulting in the kind of environment she saw at Abayi.
