From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
Former governor of Anambra State and presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, yesterday, presented a cheque of N75 million to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Specialist Hospital, Nkpor, Anambra State.
Obi, while handing over the cheques, disclosed that the donation comprised $50,000 he personally raised through his friend and New York-based Paediatrician, Dr. Philip Ozuah and his personal support of N15 million.
He thanked the Immaculate Heart Sisters for the wonderful work they were doing in health, education and poverty reduction.
He said he had always talked to people of like-minds to support the society in critical areas like health and education, and thanked Dr. Ozuah for the positive intervention.
He noted that institutions like the one run by the Immaculate Heart Sisters were in difficulty and required support because they do not receive government’s subvention.
“They treat people, including the poor who are unable to pay, so individuals like me should come to their aid and support them to do more. I’ve been doing this for years and I will continue to offer my support for this.”
Obi vowed to always support institutions that are well managed, noting that the Immaculate Heart Sisters had proven to be effective managers of funds since his relationship with them over the years.
In her response to the donation, the Superior General of the Sisters of Immaculate Heart of Mary Mother of Christ, and proprietor of the Immaculate Heart Hospital, Rev. Mother Maureen Akabogu, thanked Obi for his gracious donation and consistent support to the Immaculate Heart Hospital, Nkpor, since inception.
She prayed that God would bless Obi and Ozuah with good health, grace of holiness, and eternal reward in heaven.
The Mother General disclosed that the hospital runs many charity activities, including offsetting bills of some indigent patients that could not pay their medical bills. She noted that the donation from Obi and his friend would help them greatly in this direction.
The Chief Executive Officer of Immaculate Heart Hospital, Sr. Maria Nkiruka Okafor, in a remark, said Obi and Ozuah’s donation would go a long way to help in providing standard healthcare services to both the rich and the poor that access the hospital.
She solicited more assistance to the hospital from people of goodwill, noting that the hospital focuses on saving lives first and not on money.
She said the donated funds would be deployed in critical areas like equipping the hospital in its newly acquired CT scanner, and the dialysis centre in procuring the required consumables needed to keep the centre running, and also in alternative sources of energy to the hospital among other interventions.