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From George Onyejiuwa, Owerri
Imo State now leads the entire former Eastern region in the operation of functional health institutions.
The state is operating 1,335 health facilities across the 27 local government areas of the state.
It is only fourth to Lagos, Kaduna, and Ogun States in the 36 States of Nigeria and Abuja.
In a report of an investigation carried out by a policy and data collection company, STATISENSE, it was discovered that only 12 states in Nigeria are operating more than 1,000 health facilities.
Among the 12, only Imo operates more than 1,000 health facilities in the entire South East and South South States.
While Lagos is leading with 2,171 health facilities, Kaduna has 1,556 and Ogun with 1,380, then Imo 1,335.
Other states that made the list of 1,000 health facilities include Katsina, Niger,Benue ,Kano, and Oyo .
The rest are Osun, Taraba, and Bauchi states.
Reacting to the development, the Imo State Commissioner for Information, Public Orientation and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, expressed satisfaction with the publication of the statistics.
He said the publication has vindicated the state government in its performance index, which cuts across all sectors both in infrastructure and human capital development.
According to him, apart from funding five grade A health institutions, including one teaching hospital, Gov Hope Uzodimma had taken health care to the doorsteps of Imo people.
He said the investment of Uzodimma in the health sector was yielding dividends and, therefore, would continue to sustain it.
