The Udi General Hospital in the spotlight
Following the outlandish reports published in the Punch newspaper within the week, the Enugu State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Emmanuel Ikechukwu Obi, in the company of the Udi LGA Chairman, promptly led a team of Journalists round the Udi General Hospital on an assessment tour of the health facility and to ascertain the veracity of the scary publication for the interest of public health and safety.
During the unannounced visit yesterday, the Honourable Commissioner was happy to see all the Departmental Heads present at their duty posts including the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Lawson Igbokwe.
His first point of inspection naturally was the Patients Register which contrary to the picture painted by The Punch’s report, recorded on the average about 300 Patients for the past three months.
The Press were further conducted around the premises of the hospital which turned up a clear, aesthetic and well kept serene environment worthy of a hospital. The initial signs of disappointment were palpable among several of the Journalists who were quite disturbed with the bushy snake-laden overgrowth as reported by the Punch, while questioning if the Reporter actually did his due diligence.
A stop at the Pharmacy, Drugs Store and dispensary units of the General Hospital removed any doubts from everyone present about the objectivity of the reportage, as we witnessed an adequate stock of medications and ancillary products to impress even the most critical individual.
The only concern however was the challenge of water at the facility.
The Hon. Commissioner inspected the once fully functional borehole as provided by the State government in the premises, regretting the damages wrought on the power installation component by a lightening strike during a rain storm months back, an act of nature that set the hospital back into difficulty to access water and having to resort back to buying water once every two weeks into their many reserve tanks.
The management reported a backlog of electricity bills owed by the facility which led to their disconnection from the grid by the EEDC.
The Commissioner promised to initiate actions to revamp the borehole in record time, and he and the Hospital Administrator informed on the concerted efforts to replicate the success of the SHMB with a solar power grid achieved through partnership at the Poly Clinic Enugu to other General hospitals in the state. The Chairman of Udi LGA, Chief the Hon., Ifeanyi Agu while emphasising the concept of synergy in governance and service delivery to our People elected to pay off the outstanding electricity bills of the Hospital while issuing an instant directive to the Supervisor for Works to begin the process of connecting the Hospital to the revitalised borehole at the Council Headquarters while a more permanent solution is sought by the State.
A happy CMO and hospital Staffers were thrilled by the developments and reaffirmed their commitment to do their best to drive the health policies of the Enugu State government.
