Vaccines and critical medical equipment worth hundreds of millions of naira have been destroyed by a fire outbreak that razed the cold store of the Ebonyi State Ministry of Health early Friday morning.

The incident occurred at Block 5, Centenary City, Abakaliki, significantly impacting the state’s immunisation infrastructure.

Speaking during an on-the-spot assessment of the damage, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Moses Ekuma, lamented the scale of the loss, noting that the facility housed vital immunisation materials and solar-powered units used for vaccine preservation.

Items destroyed in the fire include vaccines, vaccine carriers, cold-chain boxes, laptops, official documents, five refrigerators, two solar-powered refrigerators, and 45 solar batteries and inverters.

Also affected were hospital beds and mattresses supplied by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), which were scheduled for distribution to Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Intervention (MAMII) local government areas in the coming week.

A visibly distressed Ekuma, however, expressed relief that no lives were lost in the incident. He commended officials of the State Ministry of Power and Energy, fire service personnel, and security agencies for their prompt response, which helped prevent the fire from spreading to other parts of the building.

“Vaccines such as BCG, pentavalent, and HPV, among others, stored in the cold room, were completely destroyed,” he said.

The commissioner noted that the exact cause of the fire had yet to be determined. He disclosed that the facility had been without public power supply for about five days, while the alternative solar system was also not functional at the time of the incident.

According to him, efforts had been made to restore electricity, as the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) had been contacted, while the solar engineer responsible for maintenance was reportedly out of town before the fire occurred.

Ekuma announced that a committee had been constituted to investigate the cause of the fire and recommend measures to prevent future occurrences.

He also directed the Director of Administration to make alternative office arrangements for staff of the immunisation Unit affected by the incident, acknowledging that the fire had significantly disrupted immunisation operations in the state and damaged part of the building.

He added that structural experts would conduct a detailed assessment to determine the full extent of the damage.

Also speaking, the Officer in Charge of Operations at the State Fire Service, Frank Oka Ota, said his team received a distress call at about 5:18 a.m. and responded immediately.

He explained that firefighters had to act swiftly to contain the blaze and prevent it from spreading further, describing the fire as intense.

Ota commended Governor Francis Nwifuru for providing two new fire service trucks, which he said greatly enhanced their ability to respond promptly to emergencies.

He, however, appealed for the recruitment of additional personnel to strengthen the service.

The incident has raised fresh concerns about infrastructure resilience and the safeguarding of critical medical supplies essential for public health delivery in the state.