By Our Reporter
Residents of Enugu North Senatorial Zone may soon have a federal tertiary institution to grapple with the various health challenges facing them.
This could materialize if the National Assembly speed up the passage of the bill seeking to establish a federal medical centre in Nsukka.
The bill sponsored by the senator representing the zone in the red chambers, Chukwuka Utazi, has already passed first reading in the Senate.
Speaking to THE AUTHORITY in an exclusive interview, the Senator expressed disappointment that his zone has no federal referral health institution after over 60 years of independence.
According to him, efforts were in top gear to upgrade the University of Nigeria health centre, Obukpa to a federal medical centre.
Already, he disclosed, an ambulance has been procured for the hospital while a bore hole is being sunk to provide water and ensure proper sanitation in the proposed hospital.
Senator Utazi lamented the situation where his constituents had to travel to Enugu and beyond in search of specialist medical attention which most cases led to avoidable loss of lives.
He assured of his resolve to work assiduously towards the passage of the bill establishing the hospital before the end of his legislative year.
The Senate committee chair on primary health care noted that work was ongoing at the proposed hospital site to ensure that the facilities on ground meet the expectations of the inspection team from the National Assembly sequel to the second reading and possible public sitting.
The hospital, if established, will be the first federal medical institution in the Senatorial zone in spite of being the host of Nigeria’s first indigenous University, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
It would be recalled that the University of Nigeria teaching hospital was forcefully moved out from Nsukka to Ituku Ozalla in 1984 due to political considerations making the University the only one that has its medical school and teaching hospital located outside the parent institution.
