Abia Govt Urges Communities To Protect Renovated Primary Healthcare Centres.

Abia Govt Urges Communities To Protect Renovated Primary Healthcare Centres.

The Abia State Government has urged beneficiaries of functionalised Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) across the state to take ownership of the facilities and protect them from vandalism and other forms of abuse.

The Commissioner for Health, Prof. Enoch Ogbonnaya Uche, gave the charge on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, at the Umuahia North Local Government Area headquarters during the inauguration of the Strategic Community Health Oversight Team (SCHOT) for the council.

Prof. Uche said the administration of Governor Alex Otti had prioritised healthcare through the construction, renovation, equipping and functionalisation of health facilities across the state.

He, however, stressed that the success of the ongoing transformation in the health sector depended largely on active participation and ownership by communities.

According to him, healthcare goes beyond the construction of buildings, noting that a health facility can only serve its purpose when it is adequately powered and equipped to deliver quality services to people within its catchment area.

The commissioner disclosed that Abia currently has 277 PHCs across 184 wards, comprising 200 facilities under Project Ekweme and 77 renovated through the World Bank Impact Project.

He said 151 of the facilities had already been functionalised, while about 70 others were ready for equipment or functionalisation.

Prof. Uche also revealed that utilisation of government-owned health facilities had risen significantly, from about 219,000 people in 2023 to 467,000 in 2024 and approximately 1.06 million in 2025.

He attributed the increase to improved availability and quality of healthcare services, stressing that more residents were patronising government facilities as more centres became functional.

The commissioner charged members of the newly inaugurated community oversight teams to monitor health facilities in their communities, ensure the presence of health workers, protect medical equipment and report challenges through the appropriate channels.

“We don’t want people to go to health centres and they don’t find health workers. We also don’t want the things that are installed in those health centres to develop wings,” he said.

Prof. Uche cited the Amuzuoro PHC as an example of effective government-community partnership, explaining that the community provided part of a hall which was converted into a healthcare facility.

He further urged community leaders to sensitise residents on government healthcare financing programmes, particularly the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund, which provides free healthcare services for registered pregnant and nursing mothers, children under five and persons aged 70 and above.

He also highlighted the state’s formal-sector health insurance scheme, which provides highly subsidised healthcare services for civil servants and their immediate families.

The commissioner disclosed that Abians in the United States had also established the Abia Healthcare Endowment Fund to support health insurance coverage for vulnerable residents.

Also speaking, the Abia State Consultant on Strategic Community Health Oversight, Prof. Kanu Enyinnaya Nkanginieme, said the initiative was established to address the twin challenges of poor absorptive capacity and inadequate utilisation of resources that had hindered development in the state.

Prof. Nkanginieme said the community leaders were selected because, as elected representatives, they had a responsibility to ensure that resources deployed to their communities were used for the purposes for which they were provided.

He explained that the oversight teams would work with community health and education committees, women and youth leaders, local government authorities and the Ministry of Health to identify community needs, monitor facilities and promote long-term planning.

He also urged community leaders to promote enrolment in health insurance schemes and support school health programmes by linking primary schools with nearby PHCs.

According to him, the initiative is aimed at creating “emotional ownership” and establishing a structured partnership between communities and government in improving healthcare delivery.

Responding on behalf of the communities, the President-General of Ameke Afaranta Ibeku, Chief Onwuasoanya Shedrack, and his counterpart from Isingwu, Mr. Okechukwu Nkemka, thanked the commissioner and his team for the enlightenment.

They pledged to take the message to their respective communities and assured the state government of their support and commitment to the healthcare transformation agenda.

The high point of the event was the formal inauguration of President-Generals from communities across Umuahia North LGA as members of the Strategic Community Health Oversight Team.