Former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi has defended his administration’s handling of the 13-month doctors’ strike in the state, explaining the healthcare challenges he inherited and the measures he took to address them.
Speaking at the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) conference in Rivers State, Obi said there were major gaps in Anambra’s healthcare infrastructure when he assumed office.
“Doctors were on strike for 13 months and the only thing the doctors have never said is why they went on strike,” he said.
Obi recalled that when he became governor, “there was no single school of nursing accredited and university did not have a teaching hospital and hospital were not accredited.”
He said his administration initially invested in general hospitals but later chose to work with agencies and church-owned institutions after encountering difficulties.
“So I decided after several months to deal with our doctors so I put money in general hospital then they transferred it somewhere else. Then I decided I’m going to work with the agencies, schools owned by the churches and I started funding them then they started saying I’m supporting private sectors,” Obi said.
Defending his position during the dispute with the doctors, Obi questioned the impact of the prolonged strike.
“We had a disagreement. If the doctors were very effective, in 13 months there was no mass d+ath that means something is missing because after 13 months we are still alive and they were on strike,” he said.
Obi maintained that the decisions taken during his administration yielded lasting results, saying, “Go to Anambra State today, we have the highest numbers of schools of nursing, we have three teaching hospitals because of that decision I took.”
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