‘Facilities to cater for people with special needs lacking in Abia’

Sequel to the move being made to cater for people with special needs in Abia State, healthcare givers/professionals have urged the government to, not only address the crucial lacking facilities but also motivate the personnel.

The professionals who made this known during a workshop for social care managers drawn from health and related institutions in the state said that there are many such moribund facilities and health institutions.

According to them, while the psychiatric training school in the state is non-functioning, some nursing schools had provisional accreditations; a number of health care institutions across the state were undergoing rehabilitation by the government.

Speaking at the workshop organised in Umuahia, the facilitator of ‘Kiara Active Support Care’ and Social Care Expert, Mr. Endi Ezengwa, said that the workshop was aimed at equipping health and social care managers with the necessary skills to handle people with special needs when they (people with special needs) are assembled for rehabilitation.

Adding that the trained caregivers will facilitate change in health and social care, Ezengwa disclosed that about 3,000 mentally ill persons with special needs were in the state and that 60 per cent of them are females.

Wife of Abia State Governor, Nkechi Ikpeazu, through the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Women Affairs, Mrs. Ifenyinwa Uwasomba, commended the vision of Ezengwa saying that his kind gesture has changed the narrative of the state healthcare delivery.

State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, who declared the one-day workshop open through his Special Assistant on Health Matters, Mr. Felix Joe, said that caring for persons with special needs as part of his government’s holistic health care programs geared towards elongating the life expectancy of the citizenry.