Even as American President Donald Trump promised to assist Nigeria with ventilators, officials of the Anambra State Ministry of Health have discovered four unused ventilators packed in the central store in Awka, the state capital.
The ventilators were reportedly procured by the former governor and vice presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Peter Obi.
They, along with other medical equipment, were procured by Obi as part of the equipment for Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU) Teaching Hospital, Amaku, Awka, which he built before leaving office.
Speaking on the discovery, former Commissioner for Health in the Obi administration, Professor Amobi Linus Ilika, said the ventilators were part of medical equipment bought by the then government shortly before it left office before some of them could be put to use.
Ilika said: “There could be more. I can’t remember how many we bought. They were part of medical equipment I bought in the United States of America.
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“They included kidney dialysis machines, some of which may be obsolete, if not used.
“The government of Mr. Peter Obi bought six container loads of medical equipment and the contents were packed in that big store, near Fire Service building along Enugu-Onitsha expressway.
“They should check for more equipment in that big store because there are a lot of them that were procured and secured there before we left office.”
Ilika lamented that when Obi left office, a lot of things he started were abandoned and installation of the medical equipment might be part of those.
The current Commissioner for Health could not be reached as he was said to be in a meeting.
