Nkporo cottage hospital in Abia commences operation with indigenous personnel

[From BONIFACE OKORO, Umuahia]

Abia Government has commenced implementing its policy of running hospitals with indigenous professionals and other sundry staff with the inauguration of the new Cottage Hospital in the Nkporo clan of Ohafia Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.

Commissioning the facility, the state governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, charged indigenes of Nkporo and people of Ohafia LGA to leverage on the establishment of the hospital to provide medical services to their people and support the hospital with their expertise.

Ikpeazu also disclosed that the Management Board of the hospital would comprise members of Nkporo Development Union, Youths and the Women of Nkporo to enable them to take ownership of the hospital.  

Ikpeazu had on May 28, 2021, told newsmen that when the Nkporo Cottage Hospital comes on stream, the government would adopt a new paradigm in managing hospitals in the state by recruiting indigenous doctors and nurses to run such facilities.

The Governor said the move was informed the scourge of absenteeism of medical personnel from hospitals they were posted to, especially in rural areas.

“The cottage hospital at Nkporo is ready and the vendors of the medical equipment confirmed to me yesterday that they have completed their work.

“But there is something I need to bring to the fore here. The management of our cottage hospitals, going forward, will not take the pattern the previous ones took because we have had problems running general hospitals.

“We are going to now draw impetus from community development associations, from town unions. Let doctors and nurses from Nkporo run the Nkporo Cottage Hospital. We are no longer going to post somebody from Ugwunagbo to go and run the hospital at Nkporo because they end up stopping at Umuahia to do their private practice instead of getting to the people they are supposed to serve,” Ikpeazu said while interacting with newsmen as part of activities to mark his six years in office.

The Governor said the management structure of Nkporo Cottage Hospital was such that the medical personnel were indigenes of the Community who must reside within the community.

The hospital, conceived in few months ago, boasts of fully equipped mother and child care facilities, radiant warmers, ultra sound machines, incubators, a modern theatre where orthopedic surgeries could be performed, laboratory facilities and 24 hours solar power. The building of staff quarters would commence soon, according to the Governor.

Ikpeazu said the establishment of the hospital was aimed at providing adequate secondary healthcare for the people at the grassroots and promised that the state government would support the hospital with a monthly subvention of N1 million for the first six months, donate an ambulance for the facility, adding that staff of the hospital who perform well would be absorbed into the State Hospital Management Board (HMB) but would remain at the Nkporo Cottage Hospital.

An elated Deputy Governor, Rt Hon. Ude Oko Chukwu, an indigene of Nkporo, commended the Governor for changing the narrative of healthcare delivery in Nkporo, saying that his people were full of joy over the giant strides of the Governor in the area.

He equally praised the Governor for ensuring that medical facilities in the hospital were comparable to what was obtainable in modern hospitals and assured that the people would own and protect the facility.

In his remarks, the member representing Arochukwu/Ohafia Federal Constituency, Honorable Uko Nkole and the House of Assembly representing Ohafia North State Constituency, Hon. Mandela Obasi, lauded the Governor for his efforts in remembering people in the rural areas by building the facility, which, they believed, would serve the healthcare needs of the people.

Commissioner for Health, Dr. Joe Osuji, said the hospital was fully equipped to function effectively and has all departments and trained personnel to manage it. Osuji promised that the hospital would provide affordable and accessible healthcare services and charged the community leaders to ensure protection of the hospital.

Also, the Chairman of Nigeria Medical Association, Abia State chapter, Dr Chimezie Okwuonu, noted that the hospital would help in reducing infant mortality and provide health care for  the people at the grassroots, saying that the people would no longer travel long distances for medical attention.

In their separate speeches, Executive Chairman of Ohafia LGA, Dr. Okoroafor Ukiwe, and the President, Nkporo Development Union, Chief Benjamin Imeri, thanked the Governor for the projects he has executed in Nkporo, including reconstructing dilapidated road networks in the community, as well as training youths of the area in different skills and building of the hospital; and assured that the people would protect the facility.

All the Chairmen of the Local Government Areas in Abia North also spoke at the event and hailed the Governor for his people-oriented activities.

The occasion, featured among other things, the conferment of the Chieftaincy Title of “Ahainyi” on Ikpeazu by Abia North Council of Traditional Rulers led by its Chairman, Eze Uwakwe Ukaegbu.

Dignitaries who graced the event included the Secretary to Government, Barrister Chris Ezem, Abia PDP Chairman, Rt. Hon. Asiforo Okere, and many political leaders, especially from Abia North.