By Vincent Ujumadu

AWKA- MINISTER of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige has donated a well-equipped ambulance, a wheel chair and drugs worth millions of naira to the clinic attached to St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Alor in Anambra State to improve health care delivery in the area.

Ngige, a medical doctor, said during the handover of the items to the parish priest of the church, Reverend Father Martin Onukwube, that it was in fulfillment of a pledge he made to the parishioners sometime ago.

Ngige handing over drugs to Fr. Onukwube

He said he decided to add drugs and a wheelchair to ensure effective operation of the clinic, which treats patients even from outside Alor, adding that the drugs were carefully selected bearing in mind the type of ailments afflicting rural and aged people who patronize the clinic. “It is our own little way of assisting our people to enjoy healthy life and we commend the parish priest for combining the improvement of the health care of the people with their religious upliftment,” he said.

According to him, people enjoy  their religious life more when they are healthy and it is therefore important that anybody who can assist them should do so.

Commending Ngige for the donation, Fr. Onukwube explained that the clinic was established in the parish following the difficulty the parishioners were facing in accessing health care when the need arose. He said that he had to appeal to Ngige for assistance after records showed that they buried 60 people in 2015 and 69 in 2016 over sicknesses that could have easily been treated or if there was an ambulance to move sick people easily to other bigger hospitals for prompt care.

Fr. Onukwube said the clinic was assuming a bigger responsibility due to increased patronage, adding that the clinic has over 600 registered patients suffering various ailments, with hepatitis B and typhoid being the dominant ailments.

Ngige, a medical doctor, said during the handover of the items to the parish priest of the church, Reverend Father Martin Onukwube, that it was in fulfillment of a pledge he made to the parishioners sometime ago.

He said he decided to add drugs and a wheelchair to ensure effective operation of the clinic, which treats patients even from outside Alor, adding that the drugs were carefully selected bearing in mind the type of ailments afflicting rural and aged people who patronize the clinic. “It is our own little way of assisting our people to enjoy healthy life and we commend the parish priest for combining the improvement of the health care of the people with their religious upliftment,” he said.

According to him, people enjoy  their religious life more when they are healthy and it is therefore important that anybody who can assist them should do so.

Commending Ngige for the donation, Fr. Onukwube explained that the clinic was established in the parish following the difficulty the parishioners were facing in accessing health care when the need arose. He said that he had to appeal to Ngige for assistance after records showed that they buried 60 people in 2015 and 69 in 2016 over sicknesses that could have easily been treated or if there was an ambulance to move sick people easily to other bigger hospitals for prompt care.

Fr. Onukwube said the clinic was assuming a bigger responsibility due to increased patronage, adding that the clinic has over 600 registered patients suffering various ailments, with hepatitis B and typhoid being the dominant ailments.