Ikpeazu commissions molecular lab, infectious disease hospital in Aba

Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State has commissioned a molecular laboratory and diagonistic centre in Aba, for the testing of Covid-19 and an infectious disease hospital with capacity to isolate and treat 50 patients of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases at the same time.

Speaking at the premises of Aba General Hospital, location of the 16-module GenExpert Laboratory, Governor Ikpeazu commended the patriotic zeal of members of the Abia Development Summit who constructed and donated the building which the state government equipped.

He expressed joy that the facility was built by a coalition of private-sector persons from Abia State, while the Abia State government supplied the medical equipment for the centre, adding that it would complement the laboratories already in place at Abia State Specialist Hospital and Diagnostic Center, Umuahia.

Speaking also, Commissioner for Health, Dr. Joe Osuji, thanked the governor for the project, saying that with the new laboratory, Abia State has no business taking samples outside the state for testing.

He said the state is surely the only one in the South-East region and probably the only one in Nigeria that has deployed the 16-modular GeneXpert equipment, which was procured from the United States of America.

The Health Commissioner appreciated Governor Ikpeazu for ensuring that Abia State got a new laboratory and thanked the members of Abia Development Summit that came out to support and partner the government.

In their goodwill messages, Professor Sam Erugu and Prince Chris Igwe of Abia Development Summit, a non-political organisation that assisted in realising the project, commended the Governor for coming up with the idea of building the facility and described the project as a work in progress.

“This is a result of the governor’s leadership style,” they affirmed and assured that they will continue to support his administration.

Speaking while commissioning the new Infectious Disease Hospital in the Ogbor Hill area of Aba, Governor Ikpeazu, who was represented by his Deputy, Ude Chukwu, assured of the determination of his administration to continuously improve healthcare facilities in the state to ensure that citizens have access to high quality and affordable healthcare that can match the best available anywhere in the world in terms of equipment and manpower.

Governor Ikpeazu used the opportunity to once again express appreciation to frontline medics in the state for working to break the transmission chain of COVID-19 and assured them of continuing government support and encouragement.

He announced that the state government is also constructing a new mother and child hospital in Aba and Umuahia to further support the efforts of the administration to improve the average life expectancy in the state further above the national average.