The Abia State government has said that the healthcare needs of its citizens will always remain a top priority.

The Commissioner for Health, Professor Enoch Ogbonnaya Uche, stated this on Tuesday during the functionalisation of Nkwoegwu and Ogbodinibe primary healthcare centres in Umuahia.

The commissioner, who disclosed that Governor Alex Otti inherited over 900 primary healthcare centres in deplorable conditions, said the situation had previously exposed pregnant women and their children to danger.

He noted that the governor declared a state of emergency in the health sector by building and rehabilitating primary healthcare centres across the 17 LGAs, to bring quality and affordable services closer to the people.

Professor Uche explained that allocating 15 per cent of the 2024 and 2025 state budgets to healthcare is already yielding positive results, as more residents now make use of government-equipped centres.

He advised pregnant women to patronise the state’s healthcare facilities rather than traditional birth attendants.

“As a state, we have discovered that when our women go to deliver with the traditional birth attendants, they have issues.

“So we want to tell you that we no longer want our women to deliver in those places because there are no facilities to take care of them and there are no skills,” the Health Commissioner said.

Also speaking, the member representing Ikwuano/Umuahia Federal Constituency, Obinna Aguocha, said the facilities would improve the well-being of his constituents.