Anegbette — The people of Anegbette in Edo State have lashed out on the former military administrator of the state, Group Captain Baba Adamu-Nyam for closing the only health centre in the community, 10 years ago. Speaking through the Oloila of Anegbette and clan head of South Uneme, Chief GYM Ugbodaga when the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Godwin Ovbiagele visited the community to inspect the abandoned health centre, the people said the former administrator shut down the clinic because it was short of manpower.

They argued that the then military government should have recruited more qualified staff and provided facilities to bring the health centre up to standard but instead, all the workers except a security man was relieved of their jobs.

The royal father stated that the people have been denied good healthcare since the closure of the centre, leaving them to the mercy of quacks.

Anegbette Health Centre was commissioned in 1989 by the military administration of Colonel Tunde Ogbeha now a Senator. The Commissioner who was on tour of government hospitals and other health facilities in the state assured that the government would take some urgent steps to rehabilitate the health centre.

He stated that the General hospital at Ubiaja and the Central Hospital, Uromi would benefit from the Health System Development Programme (HSDP) Fund of the State Government but expressed reservations over the revenue generation efforts of the hospitals in the zone.

He, however, promised to boost the staff strength of the hospitals as soon as the list of required staff were forwarded to him but just as he was making the promise, Governor Lucky Igbinedion announced an embargo on employment of fresh civil servants in the state until further notice.