Umuahia – The Abia Hospital Management Board (HMB) has urged the state government to rehabilitate general hospitals across the state because of their crucial role in secondary healthcare delivery.
The Chairman of the board, Dr Reginald Alozie, made the call in Umuahia on Tuesday
when he presented a report on the findings of the board on general hospitals during a meeting with Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia.
According to him, a tour of the general hospitals reveals the problems of shortage of medical
and para-medical staff, dilapidated buildings and electricity supply problem.
Some other problems, he said, were the lack of water, the lack of access road, non-functional theaters, shortage of surgical equipment, expired drugs, the lack of ambulance and absence of security.
He explained that the psychiatric hospital at Mgboko was a shadow of itself as there was only one medical officer and two nurses serving there.
Alozie said that in addition to renovating the hospitals, there was need for free medical services, symposium and town hall meetings to boost public confidence in general hospitals.
Responding, Gov. Ikpeazu said the state government understood the importance of secondary healthcare in driving a result-oriented delivery system.
The governor said that the state government had started the upgrade of four state-owned hospitals as it planned to rehabilitate eight hospitals before the end of 2017.
Ikpeazu, who said that general staff indiscipline contributed to the decadence in the health sector, added that there was need to initiate staff orientation programmes in state-owned health facilities to regain peoples’confidence in general hospitals. (
