IMO: WHY OKOROCHA WAS FLOWN ABROAD

The Imo
State Government has denied speculations that its governor, Rochas Okorocha,
was flown abroad for medical attention because of the dismal state of affairs
in government-owned general hospitals in the state.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the Commissioner
for Health, Dr. Joe Obi-Njoku, who disclosed this to journalists in Owerri,
explained that Okorocha was first treated in Orlu before being flown to a
London hospital for “a second medical opinion.”

“The governor was not flown abroad for medical attention because
of the alleged sagging general hospitals in the state, as some people have been
saying,” the commissioner said.

While insisting that the governor “received medical attention in
a hospital in Orlu before he was taken to a London hospital for a second
opinion,” Obi-Njoku said that “there are certain things we cannot do here yet
until the hospitals are fully equipped.”

On the vexed issue of privatisation of medical establishments in
the state, the commissioner said government adopted the option following the
comatose state of the facilities when the administration came on board.

He described as “completely diversionary” the controversies
trailing the planned concession of the state-owned hospitals, adding that
government had confidence in the ability of the new managers of the hospitals
to properly handle the affairs of the medical outfits, as well as give adequate
attention to the citizenry.”

“We are reactivating the hospitals and equipping them with
necessary facilities that would help to attain the high level needed to
discharge effective services to the people,” the commissioner said