Governor of Abia State, Dr Alex Otti has said his administration’s 2024 budget for the health sector is robust enough for the government to deliver quality services in line with its agenda.
Otti stated this when he hosted the special adviser to the president on health, Salma Ibrahim, and her team, who were in Abia on an advocacy visit in Umuahia, the state capital.
Otti said, “In the past 11 months, we have intervened at different levels to ensure that our people have better opportunities to live when they are challenged and we will continue to push the bars in those areas.”
He said within the period, the administration had restored accreditation of the State University Teaching Hospital, Aba, and cleared salaries of health workers owed by the previous administrations.
The governor also mentioned the ongoing retrofitting of the general hospitals and primary healthcare centres, and the proposed medical village for top-notch health tourism in the state.
“We have already keyed into the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.
Because, all the areas the government is interested in, we’re also participating in them,” he added.
Earlier, Ibrahim called for partnership between the federal and the state governments to accelerate the health sector transformation initiatives outlined in the agenda.
Ibrahim said the federal government would support the state under the Presidential Acceleration Plan for Reduction of Maternal Death, capacity building for health workers, resources, and advocacy.
She commended Otti for his proactive measures in the sector, including the declaration of a state of emergency in the health sector, increasing health allocations by 15 percent, and swift resolution of salary disputes.
