Otti Urges Pregnant Women to Enrol Basic Healthcare Provider Fund

Abia State Governor Alex Otti has urged all pregnant women in the state to enrol in the Basic Healthcare Provider Fund which gives them free access to maternal and child healthcare services.

Otti was speaking on Tuesday at Ibeme Primary Health Centre, in Obingwa LGA, during the functionalisation of the fiftieth Primary Health Centre at the ongoing renovation, retrofitting, and functionalisation of Primary Health Centres in the state, under the ‘Project Ekwueme.’

The project aims to renovate and equip 200 Primary Health Centres in all wards in the 17 LGAs of Abia State.

The Governor, represented by the Commissioner for Health, Professor Enoch Ogbonnaya Uche, said that the Basic Healthcare Provider Fund also provides free healthcare for the elderly above 70 years and children below the age of five.

He noted that the Ibeme Primary Health Centre has been equipped with modern medical equipment of international standard adding that it would be upgraded to carry out surgical operations.

“All pregnant women have to be enrolled in the Basic Healthcare Provider Fund, which gives them free access to maternal and child healthcare services. But, if you don’t register with health insurance, you will pay,” Otti said.

“For a mother, it is important for you to know that everything a pregnant woman needs, from the time she takes in to the time she delivers, is here, and you are not going to find these facilities in private hospitals.

“So, it means that this is the best place to come for antenatal. So, once you miss your period, you come and register. And you know that our government (Dr. Alex Otti’s government) has already paid for it, ‘” Gov. Otti stated.

Governor Otti disclosed that the Ibeme Primary Health Centre is the 50th PHC functionalised in the first phase, and among the best in modern equipment, noting that it is the 13th in Obingwa Local Government Area.

He explained that the functionalisation of the centre is to make it operational to attend to healthcare, pointing out that it would be commissioned at a later date.

“This is among the highest we are functionalising. And what is even more is the type of equipment you find here. The equipment we are installing is not the equipment you see in ordinary PHCs.

“Many general hospitals do not boast of this kind of equipment. What is the idea? The idea is to get the best equipment to the grassroots.

“Those diagnostic and treatment equipment that will help to ensure that when our people are sick, they get the best of care. The equipment that is here is some of the things you see in hospitals, in primary care centres in the U.S.

“If you walk into a primary care centre in the U.S., one of the things you see there is the point-of-care ultrasound. So, you don’t have to go to a general hospital for them to scan you,” Gov. Otti said.

The state’s chief executive used to opportunity to encourage people of the community to discourage pregnant women from patronising traditional birth attendants, urging them to make a law banning traditional birth attendants from operating in their areas as their activities lead to maternal mortality.

He disclosed that Obingwa is among the three Local Government Areas in the state with a high rate of maternal mortality, with the other two being Bende and Ukwa East, adding that the state is working assiduously to reverse the narrative.

He further disclosed that officers of the Homeland Security have been drafted to man the Primary Health Centres to ensure the safety of the equipment and urged the people to take ownership, support, and protect the facilities.

Also speaking, an indigene of the community and Commissioner for Petroleum and Mineral Resources, ProfessorJoel Ogbonna and the traditional ruler of the community, Eze G. N Ogbonna thanked Governor Alex Otti for remembering them.

They appreciated the Governor for the construction of their major road and appealed to him to extend the road to the Primary Health Centre to enable their people easy access to obtain medical care.

Earlier, in his goodwill message, the Mayor of Obingwa Local Government Area, Chief Maxwell Nwadike represented by Chief Peter Azubuike, while thanking the Governor for his love for the Obingwa people promised on behalf of the people to continue to support his administration.

The Mayor called on the people to take advantage of the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration by INEC, to register and obtain their PVCs to enable them to participate in the 2027 general election.