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The member representing Adavi/Okehi federal constituency of Kogi state, Joseph Asuku has appealed for upgrade of a neglected Human Community Centre in his constituency to a teaching hospital, expressing sadness over the inability of the government to establish a teaching hospital for the medical students in the state.
Asuku made the appeal during a public hearing by the House of Representatives Committee on Health Institutions on 10 bills geared towards establishing new tertiary health institutions in various parts of the country, while cautioning against lopsiding infrastructure to one area of the State.
He said that the lack of such health infrastructure has made their students to turn to University of Ilorin and University of Abuja teaching hospitals.
The lawmaker therefore called for the upgrade of the human community center in Adavi/Okehi federal constituency to a teaching hospital for the use of the students.
He said that converting the Federal Medical Center (FMC) in Lokoja to a teaching hospital would still leave more to be desired for the people of the State.
He said that priority establishments should be spread across the State to achieve maximum objectives, saying that Lokoja already has a university presence.
According to him, Adavi/Okehi federal constituency has the land mass, human capacity and infrastructure, saying that the human community center was well equipped.
He said that the demand has nothing to do with politics.
He said “This is the yearning of the people. People that have neglected for so long. Since the creation of Kogi state, this institution(Centre) has been neglected and this is not to cast aspersions on Kwara State or university of Ilorin, no but we have to state the fact.
“Out of sight is out of mind. What we want is this. We want it to take it’s rightful position to be in Kogi state so that we can have the ownership of this. This center is already equipped with the man power, infrastructure and land mass. So it will be a seamless transition to upgrade it rather than concentrate everything always in the center.
“So what happens to the people of the center, why concentrate it in one local? Why not expand it? We have the land mass to accommodate both the faculty and the teaching hospital. We have the land mass, we have the human capacity, we have the infrastructure and it’s going to be a very viable option
“So what we’re simply saying is what they’ve been doing. You know, to whom much is given much is expected. Nothing has been given to them and a lot have been expected so we just want to upgrade it. It’s a simple fact and we have everything. So we Kogite are very accommodating and very welcoming.
“If by God’s grace, the bill scales through, this will be one of the best teaching hospitals because presently medical students from Kogi state have to go to the university of Ilorin and they’ll still be sent back to the center. Does it make sense? Some of them have to go back to Abuja all the way. What we’re simply saying is we should do the needful. Politics should not be everything. We’ve seen it from COVID-19. We can’t concentrate everything in one location”.
