The government of Abia State has rolled out integrated water, sanitation, and hygiene programs towards uplifting public health.
The Commissioner for Power and Public Utilities, Ikechuckwu, who stated this, while briefing newsmen on the outcome of this week’s Executive Council Meeting presided over by Governor Alex Otti, at Government House Umuahia on Monday.
He explained that the integrated program was divided into three phases with the equipping of old boreholes, especially in rural areas, with the solar-powered equipment to ensure a constant supply of water in the absence of the power grid.
He promised Monday, who believed good water was vital in enhancing the public health standard, therefore, tight water facility analysis with treatment would be carried out to avail safe drinking water to the Abia people, especially in the rural areas.
“When we took office, we assessed all the water facilities in the state and found that none of the 58 core water facilities was producing even a litre of water”
The Power and Public Utilities Commissioner added that measures were already in place towards ensuring proper sanitation and hygiene across the state, “the state aims to achieve zero open defecation and would construct modern solar-powered public sanitation facilities, including washrooms and toilets across the three senatorial zones”.
This is coming after the Commissioner for Information and Culture, according to the report, Okey Kanu, said: “Governor Alex Otti has approved the upgrade of Amachara General Hospital and Abia State Specialist in Umuahia to a full-fledged specialist hospital that would be offering a wide range of medical services such as internal medicine, cardiology, neurological, surgical services, brain and spine surgeries, among others.
Also speaking, Professor Enoch Ogbonnaya Uche, the new commissioner of health for Abia State, the Governor approved funds to recruit top-class professionals in most health sectors to provide the people with the best possible quality of health services.
