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“Our central
hospital, Agbor is in disarray” Those are the words of Chief Philip E. Igumbor,
the Isagwe of Agbor kingdom and chairman, Agbor stakeholders Forum, when he was
visited in his office in Agbor by Ika Weekly.
Chief Igumbor,
going back to history, reminded us that the Central Hospital Agbor was built in
1906, making it one of the oldest hospitals in then Mid-West region which at
this time is supposed to be a referral
hospital where people from far and near should be sent for solution to
complicated health situations and a place for housemanship for new medical
doctors, but the reverse not only being the case it is being questioned if
central hospital Agbor is still a hospital.
The Hospital is
in disarray that principal consultants have left the hospital without
replacement as was learnt last month, which prompted Chief Igumbor and other
stakeholders in Agbor to take an action by booking an appointment with the
state Commissioner for Health to let him know about the situation, but on the
day they visited, the commissioner was
avoidably absent. They did not back off due to his absence but decided to speak
with Dr. Daniel Omodon, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health who granted
them audience and a smooth interaction went on as the stakeholders exposed
their observations.
In their expose,
they pointed out that Central Hospital Agbor has no surgeon, gynecologist or
even a enologist, noting that the first two are so important that a hospital
without them are not a hospital, especially not for pregnant women, thousands
of them always packed in the anti-natal
session with different stages of pregnancy. In case of complications which must
occur in one or two cases what do they do? “This is where a specialist like the
gynecologist is needed. Nurses and individuals are there but they have
limitations, because the man who does the job and takes some decisions is not
there.”
Chief Igumbor in
a sad mood said that the Hospital Physicians is on leave at the moment and no
one knows if he is going to come back as most of them are quitting their job at
the central hospital, adding that nurses that were removed without replacement
in July, 2011, thereby forcing departments to merge in other efficiently carry
out their responsibilities because of lack of personal.
Another sad story
is that Central Hospital, Agbor is almost a grave yard after 7:30pm because
there is no power supply. The generator that was bought during the time Samuel
Ogbemudia has been packed up and the “new one” they bought which they say is a
new one cannot be used because upon enquiry it is learnt to be a refurbished
one for a long time now, no generator to lighten the hospital at night and to
pump water, a bad situation, made worse dry the epileptic power supply from
PHCH.
Chief Igumbor did
not fail to say that Agbor people are grateful to Senator Chief Dr. Arthur
Ifeanyi Okowa, who during his time as Commissioner for Health in Delta State
added more infrastructure and other necessary things into the Central Hospital
Agbor of which Agbor people remain very grateful, adding that many
administrations have come and gone, yet no one looked into the plight of the
Hospital. All these took Chief Igumbor and other concerned indigenes of Agbor
to Asaba where they pleaded that their message / complaints should reach the
ears of the commissioner through the permanent secretary who promised to
discuss with the commissioner and the Delta State management Board.
In the words of
Chief Igumbor said “we are using this media to call on them in the interest of
humanity to come to our rescue. We do not have personels to take up these
responsibilities. We keep begging and praying that God should touch the minds
of those in power to look into our
plight”.
Another area that
he (Chief Igbumbor) talked on is road in Agbor, saying that there is no good
road in Agbor except for the effort of some Concerned Agbor people of which he
is one of the elders who came together to fix Mariere Street and some parts of
Baleke Street, and still waiting for the government to do something. Everyday
Agbor people hear of award of road contracts but there is never commissioning,
stressing that Agbor is waiting to hear and see some projects in the area
commissioned there and then they will role out their drums.
He described the
on going job along Old Lagos Asaba Road, a snail speed job which he thinks will
take 10 years before completion, revealing that the drains are being fixed but
what stops them from going into division of labour by putting some hands into
leveling and sand filling in the area that the drains have been fixed? he
narrated an experience when he travelled to Kwale and saw the Asaba—Ughelli express way under
construction which involved three contractors each doing a different job from
the other on the same road, which is the reverse of what is happening at the
Old Lagos Asaba road where they are working on only drains for about 2 metres
and stop for the day to continue the next day.
When asked what
the local government is doing about bad roads in Agobr, Chief Igumbor laughed
saying that he and other stakeholders also visited the local government council
based on the issue of bad roads, but were told that the local government has no
money as it uses about 90% of the allocation it gets to run the local
government in the end it is left with nothing that will be enough to fund road
contracts; though some amount was released which was augmented by some
concerned citizens which helped and funded the repairs of some roads like
Baleke and Prof Ebie Streets.
He said that
Agbor people will continue to beg though they know their right, but as they
know their right that government is supposed to make all these available, yet
they will keep on begging and he believes that one day, there will be a divine intervention.
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