Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has said that he would not relent in the ongoing drive to transform the healthcare system in the state until the goal was achieved.

He gave the assurance during the September edition of his monthly media chat Thursday night, saying that his government “is firing on full cylinders” to make Abia’s healthcare system attain high standard.

Otti stated that the healthcare transformation is holistic involving infrastructure, equipment and manpower, adding that all the three levels of healthcare delivery – primary, secondary, and tertiary – are experiencing transformations.

He stated that “primary healthcare centres are becoming operational” following the reconstruction and retrofitting of several PHCs among the 200 earmarked for turnaround in the first phase of the renovation progeamme code named Project Ekwueme.

The governor said that 80 PHCs that would be equipped by the World Bank were undergoing reconstruction while 26 secondary health facilities were also being reconstructed, most of which would be functional by year end.

He gave assurance that any completed health facility would bear the mark of high quality of infrastructure, equipment and service delivery as “we’ll make sure they work very well.”

On manpower needs of the state health sector, Otti said that 771 health professionals have been hired by government from within and outside Abia.

He noted that offshore applications were received from health professionals from other African countries, including South Africa expressing interest to work in Abia’s healthcare system.

The Abia governor stated that the offshore applications sent by health professionals demonstrated the level of confidence being enjoyed by his administration not only in Abia but far beyond the state.

On the ongoing construction of Abia Airport, Otti said that the state was doing its own part in the joint project by building the runway as agreed with the federal government.

He said that federal government would soon commence the construction of the terminal building and other facilities that would form the full components of the airport located at Nsulu in Isiala Ngwa North Local Government.

The Abia chief executive expressed surprise that a group of land donors carried out a protest last week over the issue of compensation which government had largely settled.

He explained that any issue arising from unpaid compensation could be linked to uncompleted documentation, mistakes in bank details or the problem caused by the contractor following encroachment on lands not included in the runway.

However, Otti said the contractor’s mistake has been corrected while every issue raised by those yet to receive compensation would be sorted out and compensation fully paid to all land donors.

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