Piqued by the failure of the Edo state government to put into public usage the Edo “5-Star” hospital in Benin City, commissioned almost three years ago by President Muhammadu Buhari, some social and human rights crusaders, popularly known as the Kalakawa Parliament, have dragged the Edo state government to the palace of the Benin monarch, Oba Ewuare11.
The group had also organized series of peaceful protests to draw government attention to the non utilization of the hospital built by the regime of former governor of the state, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
To this end, the group in its recent letter to the revered Benin royal father, urged him to use his influence to prevail on the government to open the gates of the health institution to members of the public.
According to the letter endorsed by Marxist Kola Edokpayi, Wilson Imasuen and Emmanuel Agbogun, the group averred as follows:
“It is very lucid that the Former Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Aliu Oshiomhole invited the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to commission the Ulta Modem Central Hospital in November 7th, 2016. Any project that is commissioned is ready for public use like Edo University, Iyamho that has long started admitting students after its inauguration in March 2016.
“Sir, the decision to build the Ultra Modern Central Hospital came after Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde was murdered in May 2012. Adams Oshiomhole the Governor was angry when he learnt that shortly after Olaitan Oyerinde was shot, he was rushed to the Central Hospital but there was no life-saving facility to resuscitate him before he gave up the ghost. Apart from Oyerinde’s incident, Oshiomhole equally vowed to equip the new hospital with cancer screening equipment so that other Edo people will not suffer the same fate as his late wife who died of cancer. He commenced the building of the new structure which was conceptualized as a modern accident and emergency Centre with state of the art diagnostic equipment and private wards for specialized medicalcare.
“Edo people generally applauded Oshiomhole’s vision especially with the commissioning of the magnificent edifice in November 2016 by President Mohammadu Buhari, a man of integrity that vowed to wipe out corruption from the system.
“As it is now, the colonially built Central Hospital has only one general surgeon, no X-ray services and eye clinics because the structures housing these units were demolished to pave way for the construction of the 5 star hospital that has not admitted a single patient even with the equipment.
“Presently Sir, most facilities at the old hospital are in comatose, that is why people who lose their loved ones in the hospital engage both doctors and nurses in a fight on daily basis.
“The people cannot be dying on daily basis as a result of lack of bed spaces for patient and the monumental structure built as a 5 star Hospital is now occupied by rodents mosquitoes, snake and other dangerous animals. Edo cannot afford to waste billions of tax payers money invested in the hospital in the midst of economic quagmire.
“As Martin Luther King Jnr. stated that “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”.
‘In 1963 President John F. Kennedy, in recalling the words of the author of the epic poem. The Divine Comedy (1321) told an audience “Dante once said that the hottest places is hell are reserved for those who in a moral crisis maintain their reality.
“That same year, while speaking to the United Nations, Ethiopia’s Emperor Haile Selassi (1982-1975) said “Throughout history it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it matters most that made it possible for evil to triumph.
“Sir, silence is not golden as far this matter is concerned. Edo is our state, we have no other state to call our state. We cannot afford to waste billions of naira that is enough to build a small nation after war in an elephant project presently occupied by rodents, snakes, scorpions and other dangerous animals while the poor masses have no access to heal facilities.
“To this end, we want to humbly demand that the House set up a Committee to investigate the rationale behind the closure of the Hospital since its inauguration in 2016.
“While we anticipate positive response to our humble demand, do accept our warmest greetings and our continuous determination to defend the voiceless, the vulnerable and the poorest of the poor in our society.”
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