Patients in Abia and other neighbouring southeast states will henceforth access free medical care at the Abia state children’s Specialist Hospital, Bende Road Umuahia, under the National Health Insurance scheme in partnership with the state government.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Health care service delivery, Dr Ngozi Okoronkwo, disclosed this after being conducted around the specialist Hospital by the Coordinator Dr Ngozi Ogbonna-Erondu.
Dr Ngozi Okoronkwo, who observed that parents have not been taking their wards to the health facility due to the wrong impression that the place is private-driven, noted that the insurance scheme will now cover the services provided to patients.
She also expressed the hope that the development will encourage patronage of the hospital and assured that more specialists would be deployed to take the expected increased patriot the thee hospital.
Speaking to journalists, the Coordinator of the Center, Dr Ngozi Ogbonna-Erondu, who said that her team has so far run the hospital in line with its vision, identified poor patronage as a significant challenge facing them due to the general misconception that the facility is privately owned looking at its standard.
She noted that the management has been sensitizing the public on the accessibility and affordability of the hospital’s services. She thanked the state government for the bold step taken to increase enrolment into the hospital.
