By Jude Michael
The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi, Prof Joseph Ugboaja, has said the institution is doing its best to change the negative narrative about healthcare development in Nigeria.
Ugboaja stated this on Friday, July 26, during a press conference to announce the settling in of the institution at its permanent site, after moving out completely from the temporary site the previous week.
The Coordinator Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Ali Pate, was at the institution that week, during an event to mark the first anniversary of the official commissioning of the permanent site.
Ugboaja told journalists that: ‘NAUTH is a national health facility which is contributing significantly to the growth of healthcare sector in Nigeria.
‘With our movement to this new site which you can see is spacious and conducive, both for workers and patients, you will expect that our contribution to the development of the healthcare sector in Nigeria will be even more.
‘At the old site, we had patients but didn’t have space, and you cannot carry the patients on your head because there was limited bed space. So sometimes, we send patients away.
‘But today, we have the space we need, and even the environment is conducive for workers to give their best. The facilities are new and patients enjoy it too to the extent that some feel reluctant to go back home after they have been discharged.
‘We also have state-of-the-art facilities here, and some of the facilities are less utilized because we have shortage of manpower.’
The CMD said the reason for bringing the Minister to the Institution was for him to come and feel the environment and also the facilities, and also see the need to approve the employment of new staff to man them.
‘Already, we had earlier applied for waiver and as he (Minister) got back to the ministry after his visit, he recalled that waiver and has told me about it, and we know that before long, he will do something about it,’ Ugboaja said.
