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From Magnus Eze, Enugu
Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has applauded the First Lady, Hajiya Aisha Buhari, for the upgrade of Aso Villa State House Clinic.
Okechukwu who spoke in Enugu on Sunday said her intervention has brought the hospital to an enviable international standard, and also improved its capacity to now serve 35,000 Nigerians.
The foundation member of All Progressives Congress (APC) said: “It will be recalled that in October 2017, Mrs Buhari at a stakeholders’ meeting on Reproductive, Maternal, Nutrition, Child Advocacy and Health and Nutrition, RMNCAH+N, at the State House, Abuja, told her own story when she fell ill and was advised to travel to London for treatment, but she refused.
“She said that she called the Aso Clinic to find out if they had an x-ray machine, and that they said it was not working. In the end, she had to go to a hospital owned and operated by foreigners, 100 percent,” he said
Quoting the first lady further, Okechukwu said, “There is a budget for the hospital and if you go there now, you will see a number of constructions going on but they don’t have a single syringe there. What is the purpose of the buildings if there are no equipment there to work with?
“You can imagine what happens across the states to governors’ wives if this will happen to me in Abuja.”
According to Okechukwu, this singular experience spurred Mrs. Buhari to push for the upgrade and completion of the Aso Villa State House Clinic.
He said that the upgrade project, which started six years ago, would now make a great impact on the health of the first family and other Nigerians “as we have all the experts in Nigeria but all we only needed is a good platform.
“The hospital that is supposed to serve the First Family is serving like 35,000 people, which is quite much. The first lady insisted and made provision of a VIP wing within the clinic, which is close to the Presidential Villa.”
VON DG also lauded the First Lady for all her initiatives, programmes and projects especially her pet programme – “Future Assured,” that had made useful impacts in the lives of millions of Nigerians in the course of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
