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Abia State Government (ABSG) has approved the implementation of the Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS for Local Government workers in the state. The Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu disclosed this on Monday, at Government House Umuahia, while briefing the press on the outcome of this week’s State Executive Council meeting presided over by Governor Alex Otti, stating that the approval of the CONHESS is part of the ongoing reforms in the state civil service, “The state government continues to prioritise workers’ welfare and conditions of service of its workforce. This commendable move makes Abia State one of the few states in the country that pays the federal government Consolidated Health Salary Structure, CONHESS,” he said. He disclosed that the functionalisation of the second batch of 52 renovated and equipped Primary Health Cares (PHCs) is in progress across the state, stating, “This brings the total number of functionalised PHCs to 102. The remaining 98 PHCs will be fully renovated and equipped before the end of the year. “In the same vein, 50 or more out of the 79 World Bank Impact PHCs will be fully renovated and equipped before year’s end. Similarly, by the end of the year, it is hoped that a total of 250 PHCs or more will have been fully renovated and equipped for use by Abians in the state”. The Commissioner further announced that the state government is collaborating with world-class hospitals in Sweden and other global health institutions on a number of medical outreach programmes in the state, pointing out, “Some of the outreach programmes are as follows. The first is the one involving the Ministry and ProHealth International. That medical outreach will commence on the 16th of this month and end on the 22nd of the month. “The second outreach involves Abia Diaspora Medical Outreach Group and this will hold between the 12th and 19th of December 2025. The third one is the AMPA Abia Medical Outreach and this will hold in April 2026. The last but not the least is the one involving Abia State and the Swedish Global Health Outreach”. He disclosed that, the recruitment portal for the recruitment of health workers has been reopened, informing that vacancies exist for ophthalmologists, medical officers, dental officers as well as part-time and full-time consultants. He also informed that the construction of three specialist hospitals in the state is ongoing and noted that, recently, there was a review of the ongoing construction works and the size of the three specialist hospitals to ensure an upgrade in the facilities of the hospitals to world-class standards. According to him, the state governor, Alex Otti has directed that the solar power project at the SDG Hospital located in Ugwunagbo be operationalised immediately within the week, adding that, with the directive, the hospital staff and patients alike would experience 247 light going forward. The Light Up Abia initiative, the Commissioner said, has continued to make progress, adding that the installation of a 300 kVA-0.35 kVA transformer substation is in progress, while the survey for the Ohafia routing of 33 kVA line from Ihechiowa to Asaga, Ohafia, covering a distance of 27.69 km, is in progress too. Prince Kanu assured that the administration of Dr Alex Otti would not issue a change in terms of land acquired for projects, stressing that any land that the government acquires would be used for the project for which it was acquired. Contributing , the Commissioner for Health, Prof. Enoch Ogbonnaya Uche said the government needed to confirm the exact number of the health workers in the LGAs before granting approval for the CONHESS, saying the CONHESS has now removed any dichotomy in the health care workers, stating, “If this is anything to boost the morale of workers , His Excellency has done it”. For the ongoing recruitment of health workers, Prof. Uche noted that about 500 Nurses are undergoing documentations having been recruited through the transparent process of the state government. READ MORE FROM: NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
