Aba, July 12, 2023 – The Abia State government has declared the newly constructed and inaugurated Abia Multi-Specialist Hospital in Aba as unfit for human use.
108scoop.com reports that the declaration of the hospital as being below acceptable standard is as a result its structural defects.
Also, the hospital has poor ventilation with old and unfitted equipment.
The Abia state Commissioner for Health, Dr Ngozi Okoronkwo, made this known on Wednesday while speaking with newsmen during an inspection of hospitals in Aba.
She explained that the building which showed structural defects has old, unfitted equipment and no proper ventilation and water, required structural assessment to ascertain its capability to function as a hospital.
“The hospital is bad; the structure is poorly done and the design approach is poorly done.
“The equipment are scattered all over the place and we cannot ascertain if they are working or not because there is not power supply.
“It is really a challenge. The idea of coming here is to look at the place to see if it is ready for use but from my assessment, it will take a while,” the commissioner said.
Okoronkwo frowned at the leaking and flooding of rooms in the hospital, mouldy walls, lack of provision for Air Conditioners or fans, complicated access within the hospital which she said was dangerous.
She said that until she sees the contract papers that resulted in the poor job, she cannot determine if the government would sustain the contract or terminate it.
She said the government would meet with the contractors to know if their intention and work meets the current government’s standard or not.
“If they meet our standard, we may look at continuing or see how to incorporate that into what we intend to do but if it does not meet our standard, of course we will discard and develop another one”, she said.
She assured that the government has no intention to move the Aba General Hospital from its place but would retain it to serve the community.
Okoronkwo passed same judgement on the Abayi Cottage Hospital in Osisioma LGA saying that not even animals should use the place as a hospital.
She said Gov Alex Otti having declared a state of emergency in the health sector, three hospitals from the three senatorial zones were marked out for revitalization before his 100 days in office.
She stressed that since the Aba General Hospital “is not dependable” they would consider revitalizing Abayi Cottage Hospital as an option.
The former governor of the state, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu’s administration demolished the old Aba General Hospital built in 1957 and replaced it with Abia Multi-Specialist Hospital.
Ikpeazu constructed the Abia Multi-Specialist Hospital in about four months and inaugurated it on May 27 before his exit leaving it in an unfit state.
