ENUGU — THE Enugu State Government yesterday ordered the immediate closure of Madonna Infirmary Specialist Hospital for Women at New Haven, Enugu for allegedly engaging in unwholesome practices.Governor. Chimaroke Nnamani who announced this when he paid an unscheduled visit to the hospital yesterday morning, also ordered the revocation of Certificate of Occupancy of the hospital building which would be forfeited to the state government for the overriding interest of the state.
Nnamani, angered by his discoveries at the hospital, further gave an order for the arrest and prosecution of both the Medical Doctor in-charge of the hospital as well as his nurses for engaging in the alleged illegal practices.The governor who spoke with reporters after visiting the hospital, explained that the government took the actions following reports of “unorthodox medical practices going on in the hospital”
“Over the past few months, we have had reports of bad medical practice in the hospital. We have heard cases of early pre-natal deaths, that is, babies who were born okay, they cried at birth, then after a few minutes for unexplained reasons, these babies died”, the governor stated.
According to him, he had earlier set up a committee in the Ministry of Health to review the situation, but regretted that the committee has not turned in its report. He explained that his presence at the hospital was based on the report he got concerning a maternal death that took place there, stressing that even though he was the governor of the state, “I am also a gynecologist, trained to take care of high rate pregnancy.” Nnamani maintained that he took the actions aware of its significance in line with his commitment to the safety of the people of the state.
In another development, the state government said yesterday that it had commenced the process of disengaging politicians from the state civil service. Announcing this while swearing in Mr. Clement Okwor as the new Head of Service to the state government, Nnamani said Okwor’s appointment was a new dawn in the state civil service and the beginning of the process of reform in the service.
He said that the reform, which was in collaboration with the DFID, would focus on service delivery with a view to inculcating in the civil servants the spirit of service. The reform, he added, would help the workers understand their responsibility and expectations from the people and government. Nnamani said that working in partnership with DFID, his government would embark on aggressive capacity building in the areas of service delivery, refurbishment and rehabilitation of infrastructure to make workers more comfortable in their places of work.
The governor, at the occasion, also swore in Mr. Jacob Ude as the Commissioner for Chieftaincy Matters and revealed his government’s plan to reform the traditional institution with a view to classifying its members as well as refurbish their council chambers.In his speech, the new Head of Service, Mr. Okwor who was the state commissioner for Education, described the civil service as central and indispensable to the stability, strength and proficiency of the entire machinery of the government.
