The Kogi State House of Assembly has appealed to the Government to urgently rehabilitate the dilapidated Abejukolo General Hospital to enable it cope with the increasing medical demands of patients in and outside Omala Local Government Area of Kogi State.
The Assembly made the appeals on Tuesday during the house plenary.
Moving a motion on the floor of the house, the member representing Omala State Constituency, Hon. Umar Yahaya explained that, before now, Abejukolo General Hospital served as the only provider of all medical needs of the entire people of Omala until it’s services became moribund due to the failure on the part of the relevant authority in maintaining the hospital in good working order.
He prayed that, the State Ministry of Health be called upon to undertake a facility tour of the Abejukolo General Hospital to ascertain the deplorable condition of the hospital and determine necessary remedy to ensure the provision of medical services to the people.
He equally urged the State Government to make budgetary provision in the 2024 Appropriation Bill for upgrading the Abejukolo General Hospital to a Specialist Hospital.
Seconding the motion, the member Representing Dekina Biraidu State Constituency Ochidi Usman Shehu said the problem is not peculiar to Omala alone, noting that, there are many health facilities without adequate personnels across the 21 Local Government of Kogi State.
He wants the State Government to engage new Doctors across Kogi State to address the problem.
On their part, the members representing Okene Town Hon. Suleiman Abdulrazak p and his colleague from Ankpa I Hon. Lawal Akus while aligning with the mover of the motion maintained that, many hospital across the state were in a diplorable state, hence the need for Government to take urgent action to address the problem in rural areas.
“The present Government has done in Lokoja, Okene and Koton Karfe as world class hospital were built to attend to the medical needs of our people.
Am optimistic that Governor Bello will attend to this demands for the betterment of our people”
Ruling on the motion, the Speaker of the Assembly, Rt. Hon. Aliyu Umar Yusuf mandated
the Committee on Health and Social Services to embark on an on-the-spot assessment of the Hospitals across the State with a view to determining their conditions for possible legislative interventions.