By IJENDU IHEAKA

The Abia Government has declared the newly constructed and inaugurated Abia Multi-Specialist Hospital in Aba unfit for human use following structural defects, poor ventilation, missing or old, unfitted equipment.

Abia Commissioner for Health, Dr Ngozi Okoronkwo, made this known on Wednesday while addressing newsmen during an inspection of hospitals in Aba.

Okoronkwo said the building which showed structural defects has unfitted equipment, no proper ventilation and running water and requires structural assessment to ascertain its capability to function as a hospital.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the former Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu’s administration demolished the old Aba General Hospital built in 1957 and replaced it with Abia Multi-Specialist Hospital.

Ikpeazu inaugurated the hospital on May 27 before his exited office.

Okoronkwo said “the hospital is bad; the structure and the design approach were poorly done.

“The equipment are scattered all over the place and we cannot ascertain if they are still 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.

Okoronkwo lamented 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 work meets the current government’s standard or not.

“If they meet our standard, we may consider 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 the people that the government has no intention to move the Aba general hospital from its place but would retain it to serve the community.

Also, Okoronkwo said on the Abayi Cottage Hospital in Osisioma LGA, “not even animals should use the place as a hospital.”

She said Gov. Alex Otti has declared a state of emergency in the health sector.

The commissioner said three hospitals from the three senatorial zones have been marked out for “revitalisation” before his 100 days in office.

She stressed that since the Aba general hospital “is not dependable” they will consider the Abayi cottage hospital as an option. (NAN)

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