►Tom is alive today and his family is ready to tell the story over and over.
►Tom’s mother, Ngozi Abochi had run from pillar to post seeking help to keep her son alive without success.
Ngozi had cried to Nigerians through the media for urgent assistance for a life saving operation but help was nowhere to be found.
She and her husband had visited the Abia State government office in search of help apparently due to alleged man – made bottle necks they were not able to succeed until Chat212 published Tom’s story.
Luck smiled on Tom when the daughter of the Governor read the story and called her father’s attention to it. Immediately, the Governor speedily made funds available for Tom to be taken abroad for further treatments in far away India.
Today, Tom is hale and hearty.
Speaking to Good Health Weekly, Ngozi said: “I’m a living witness to the fact that Governor Orji popularly known as T.A is a man that shares the joy and sorrow of his subjects.
For Instance, when my son Tom was diagnosed of a hole- in -the -heart two days after his birth, in our bid to get help, the only place left for my husband and I to go seek help was the spirit world. And then, the story of my boy’s ill-health was published in some national dailies.
“When His Excellency read the plight of little Tom in Chat212 Newspapers, he immediately invited us. We went and T. A. paid for the boy’s treatment in India. ”
According to Ngozi the conferment of the Governor a National Honour as the Commander of the Order of the Niger, CON, did not just come by chance. For her, the honour is well deserved because Abians are better off under the administration of the Governor.
Ngozi, the Ariam – Eluelu born woman in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State who is based in Lagos, is convinced that the recent award received by the Governor is well deserved.
“Anyone observing and following events in Abia state in the last seven years would have seen this honour coming. It is a worthy honour, well-deserved and timely too.
I think it is a way of the President saying well-done to his Excellency, T. A. Orji and other recipients for working tirelessly to keep the nation going.Stories of such humanitarian gestures abound where Orji had rescued Abians from untimely and avoidable death.
Testimonies abounds that today, the health sector in Abia State has witnessed tremendous transformation since his coming into power. This could be seen in the establishment of the state-of-the-art Abia Specialist and Diagnostic Centre in Umuahia and Aba which completed through a Private-Public Initiative, PPI.
These investments in the health sector are presently saving Nigeria huge capital flight because a number of medical treatments for which patients would have been flown abroad are now, carried out in those facilities. These facilities can compete with those in developed climes.
The government is presently planning to expand the scope of services offered at the centre. Also, the renal dialysis and ophthalmology centre initiated by this administration are billed to take off soon.
About 11 years back, basic infrastructure was practically absent. Those provided by some of the founding administrations had deteriorated completely. Abia ranked high among the states with less than optimal healthcare.
Presently, state-owned health facilities which before Orji were ordinary First Aid Units are now functioning in full capacity. And because the health of Abians is of paramount importance,the Governor picks up hospital bills of indigent citizens of the state especially children and the aged.
Under its primary healthcare services, government has constructed and equipped more than 210 community health centres in different parts of the state. These health centres are provided with boreholes and tricycles to convey patients.
Hospital in each of the senatorial zones in the state has been equipped and up-graded and at least, one hospital in every Senatorial Zone has been transformed into a referral hospital for specialist treatments and diagnosis.
The state government has also acquired the defunct gigantic Alaoma Hospital on Aba Road in Partnership with MEI-CARE of India, with the intention to make it one of the best referral diagnostic centres in the South East. In order to compliment the Federal Government to ensure the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, has built and equipped 165 health centres.
