Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, has disclosed why four months after Federal Medical Center Lokoja has remained under lock with key, four months the inversion of the hospital by some armed thugs to disrupt the staff meeting.
Ehanire while responding to a question at the PTF briefing said the governor, Yahaya Bello still has issues with the hospital yet to be cleared, adding however that a team from the federal ministry of health was being raised to engagement with the governor and the hospital management in order to resolve the impasse.
Recall that the governor, had insisted the state was free of Coronavirus pandemic.
Recalled also that suspected hoodlums stormed FMC, Lokoja, in the early hours of Wednesday-July 1, destroying the administrative block and carted away computers and files allegedly relating to COVID-19.
It was reported that the protesters numbering about 50 had stormed the premises with placards and dangerous weapons, attacking and destroying valuables.
The timely intervention of men of the State Police Command, however, prevented more damages as the protesters went wild at a point before the intervention of the police.
The state government, had in its reaction, said that preliminary findings revealed that the violence ensued when relations of patients in the medical facility protested against the failure of the management of the hospital to attend to them.
Asked to given an update on why the only hospital where ordinary citizens, who cannot afford the luxury of private clinics could go to was still under lock and key, the minister said: “We are engaging with the Medical Director who was preparing to re-open but at the same time, we are still trying to iron out the issue with the governor, who has his own complaint about the operations of the hospital and the issue is being handled by the Minister of State who first spoke with the governor and the medical director.
“We shall soon come up with a team to go and iron out the issue so that the people of Lokoja and Kogi State can begin to get treatment and medical attentions.”