The Chief Medical Director of the Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, Dr Paul Ezeonu outlines his vision for the tertiary health institution

 

The agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan in the health sector appears to have paid off in Ebonyi State. Notably, the take-over of the former Ebonyi State University Teaching Hospital by the federal government has become one of the litmus tests of even development, which the Goodluck administration has afforded the citizenry in this state.

 

The Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, FETHA, came into existence in 2011 when a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the federal government and the Ebonyi State government to handover the Federal Medical Centre Abakaliki to the government at the centre for the training of residents from the Ebonyi State University Teaching Hospital.

 

Because of the perceived impact of the agenda, Ebonyi was the first state to express interest that its only teaching hospital should be handed over to the federal government due to the challenges of funding the hospital. Now, many testimonies need to be told. Spanning through job creation to hospital upgrade, the good news is that with the man at the helm of affairs in the hospital, Dr Paul Ezeonu, the hospital can favourably measure up with international best practices. Because of hard work and transparency, Ezeonu, consultant gynaecologist was reappointed in 2011 by the president to continue with his rapid development and upliftment going on in the hospital. The chairman and members of the hospital's governing board has equally passed a vote of confidence that CMD has put the health agenda on course in the state. When the chief medical director came on board, he had the vision of re-engineering and restructuring the hospital. Luckily, when President Goodluck and the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu visited the state on a political campaign, the president said the hospital has the potential of upgrading it to a teaching hospital.

 

The pronouncement however tallied with the vision of elevating it to a greater height, which the CMD had earlier envisioned. Consequently, the elevation has made it possible for the treatment of sickle-cell patients. Under the transformational agenda, the federal government approved four centres for the treatment of sickle cell diseases, which beneficiaries were drawn from the former regions.

 

The South-east has Abakaliki FMC as the Centre of Excellence for treatment of sickle-cell diseases. The North-central, has Keffi FMC, one in Gombe FMC for the North-east and also in Ebutemetta in Lagos for the South-west. These centres are designated so to alleviate the sufferings of people with sickle-cell diseases. With the merger, Ezeonu expressed optimism that it is a welcome development. "At the Developed Centre at Germany where I was opportune to have been trained, we have big teaching hospitals. Teaching hospitals are tertiary Institutions that train man-power and also deliver specialists care.

 

"Where you have half measures, is where you have problem. With the mega-merging, we are going to have manpower, the expertise, to train the medical students, the nurses, the laboratory scientists, and of course, the resident doctors. "It is like making it big, and at the same time, creating opportunities for all the experts, and those in the Diaspora to come back and help especially to man some of the departments which we do not have that we are going to create.

 

"For instance, the departments of neurosurgery and others may be created. With my contacts outside the country, it is expected that we might bring in experts to train the local people. Even though they are already trained, they are certain qualities that need expertise to take the place, to a greater height. "Our dream is to make this teaching hospital one of the most standard teaching hospitals in the country, and in the world. We know we have the people with talent in this part of the country, and we are very sure that with the facilities on ground, which we are trying to make functional, no expert will come here and be disappointed, both those who are from Nigeria and those who are not.

 

"The centre has started pre-martial test but because of the poor results due to the methods and machines being used, it has procured state-of-the-art equipment; the best standardised chromatography machines so that when the results are out, they would be reliable and credible," an elated CMD stated. The success came to the CMD as a surprise though he has performed. "I never had in mind that one day; we would be elevated to a status of a teaching hospital. I started a big gigantic project a compact system as it is in Germany. The entire hospital complex is meant to be like a five-star hotel, where patients are to be treated with utmost respect with less stress," Ezeonu said.

 

He added: "My major aim in this second tenure is training of trainers and improving the health care delivery with the best experts all over the world. The world has become a global village, it is a matter of getting the information, passing it out and getting people who can help you sort it out". Since his re-appointment, Ezenou has remained a good student of the president, driving the transformational agenda to fruition. The School of Nursing of the centre, which he started, would start academic activities by March, next year. It is expected that 300 students would

 

commence academic activities, when it resumes. But he said, "Looking back at my first tenure, it was a wonderful period, because when I came as the MD in 2007, things were in ramshackle state. There was space problem. We didn't have enough spaces to put the patients. They were many abandoned projects. Almost all the projects were abandoned, maybe due to poor funding when I came on board. "I had to fix them up before I started the gigantic building that I put in place. Post-natal was in shambles, we have to fix it up, for usage. It has about 40 beds now. It has alleviated the problems of pregnant women.

 

"The female and men surgical wards were also uncompleted. I had to complete them. I built a Bio-Medical Unit for the maintenance of our equipment. I got a group from Manila who are helping to train our staff on how to maintain some of our equipment. The roads were not also good, I had to do the first phase of asphalting of some roads in the complex. The second phase is ongoing. We have only two vehicles for the former MD and the board chairman. Today, we have two Hilus buses from First Bank and ABC Orjiakor Foundation. Skye Bank gave us an Ambulance. We also bought vehicle for the management staff of the hospital and about 3 staff buses. "I started integrated out-reach programme, which is my passion in the hinterland. The primary health has failed, the secondary health has almost collapsed. The people in the hinterland have no access to good health care, I deviced a means of taking the core specialist doctors and nurses to the villages.

 

"I sensitise them and treat them free. It is a hectic programme that has gone deep into our resources particularly in our drug revolving which we give out free of charge because many of them cannot afford to pay for our service. We are grateful to the UNICEF for coming to our aid. We also thank some good spirited local government chairmen who have helped us out. We hope to continue this programme, because not only giving the health care delivery and the sensitisation like the sickle-cell disease.

 

"It is going to be a channel to enlighten the people also on the HIV/AIDS scourge, and other diseases that can be properly handled. The intergrated service programme has been very wonderful. We are calling on other good-spirited Nigerians to make donations by way of drugs, we don't even need the cash, but things that can help alleviate the sufferings of the people in the villages who do not have access to good medi-care. When this is done to them, the migration to the town would lessen, since they can be sure of good water, and good medi-care."

 

With the merger, the Centre is adequately staffed with more than 3,249 personnel for action. Ezeonu made this disclosure when a team of the Ministry of Information and journalists visited him in his office to ascertain the state of the projects in the institution in readiness for the Good Governance official visit to Ebonyi State. The Federal Teaching Hospital has 120 consultant specialists and several others are undergoing various kinds of training in the institute, the resident doctors and the house officers.

 

He has the vision of adequate manpower to meet medical scope of the new teaching hospital and he is the driving force behind the several on-going building projects in the institution and the establishment of Federal Medical Teaching Hospital for Midwives and Nurses containing amazing 360 rooms. The CMD said he has made contacts with universities in Canada and New York as affiliate institutes, wherein the would-be nurses/midwives so trained could go for further three months or six months training to maximize their full potentials.

 

By Benjamin Nworie, 

This Day