Our Vision Is To Make A. E. FUTHA A Centre Of Excellence, Hub For Medical Tourism -CMD

The Chief Medical Director of Alex Ekweme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, A.E FUTHA, Professor Robinson Onoh in this exclusive interview with Panafricreporters, spoke with Agbo Sunday on the landmark achievements recorded by the hospital, which include but not limited to successful Invitro Fertilization (IVF) delivery of triplets, accreditation of NEMSA to provide first 48 hours access health care service to patients with six neurosurgeons working in the hospital.

He added that A.E FUTHA is the only medical institution in the country with a vaccine center for vaccine trial, while declaring that his target is to make A.E FUTHA a home for medical tourism and a center of excellence in order to reverse medical tourism in Nigeria.

The Chief Medical Director further thanked the Executive Governor of Ebonyi State, Rt. Hon. Builder Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru and Wife, Mary-Maudline Uzoamaka Nwifuru for providing the needed facilities to enable A. E FUTHA function optimally and for paying medical bills to indigent patients.

Sir can we meet you?

I’m Professor Robinson Onoh, the Chief Medical Director of Alex Ekweme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.

For over one year, you have been in the saddle as helmsman of this medical institution. How has the journey been?

I’ve been here as a CMD for one year, and within this period, we’ve been able to make tremendous inputs into the healthcare system, in line with our mandates, in line with our vision and mission statements of making A.E. FUTHA, a center of excellence and a hub for medical tourism. We’ve done it in many areas.

Can you outline the areas where A.E FUTHA has excelled?

One of the areas is where we’ve had patients come from outside Nigeria to access healthcare is in our IVF and embryo transfer units. We have people who have come from Ghana, people who have come from Cameroon, we have people who have come from all parts of Nigeria. We even have diasporas that have come from America and UK to come and access our IVF in A.E. FUTHA. And to the glory of God, A.E. FUTHA is one of the teaching hospitals in Nigeria.

You have highlighted the achievements recorded in the area of IVF and how can you rate A.E FUTHA?

I think it is the first in Southeast Nigeria that is offering IVF to our teaming patients. And just not long ago, I think it was on 3rd of June, we had the delivery of our first IVF procedures. It was a delivery of a triplet, two males and a female, that was delivered in this hospital. And it was well-celebrated because we have to, you know, only two weeks, get the world to know about this achievement.

Congratulations on this feat. Did you just stop there?

W’ve had further deliveries from this IVF unit. We have twin deliveries, we have singleton deliveries as well from this IVF. And our first batch of the IVF, we had the highest percentage success rates. We have 70% success rates. Currently, we are at the fifth batch and it’s something that is ongoing and it’s something that’s affordable and available. So we call on Nigerians to come and access our IVF unit because we have one of the best equipment for it. Our ICSI machine is one of the best in the country. Our incubator is one of the best in the country. Likewise, other supporting equipment that we have. There are equipments that when you have good hands, use those equipments, you are most likely going to get a good outcome.

How did you get to this height. Did you enjoy the support of any individual or corporate organization?

I want to also appreciate those who have been supporting us. Where we are currently is our temporal site. I want to appreciate Right Honorable Idu Igariwey because he has also domiciled a capital project here for the permanent site and permanent building for our IVF complex. The building is ongoing, it’s almost at lintel level and it’s going to be a two-story building dedicated for IVF.

Handling emergency cases in hospital can be very daunting. How are you grappling with it?

We’ve also done a lot in areas of emergency. In emergency care, we’ve upgraded our hospital to be a hospital that has aligned with the NEMSA program and NEMSA projects. And because of that, our hospital has been accredited by NEMSA as a hospital where within the first 48 hours of patients coming in to access the healthcare, such services is meant to be paid by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. And this has reduced the burden of out-of-pocket payments from our patients. We want to also appreciate the former governor of Ebonyi State, Chief Engineer David Nweze Umahi because he also donated an ambulance to us, fully equipped ambulance for these projects of emergency care and likewise, all that support that he has given us.

What other facilities do you have on ground to ensure speedy health care service delivery to patients?

We have also been able to get accreditation for emergency medicine in our hospital. We’re the 10th in the country to have this emergency medicine accreditation. We’ve also been able to align with Royal College of Emergency Medicine and Irish College of Emergency Medicine where we collaborate with them and they support us through training and equipment. They will be here in August to support and train us on emergency medicine because of the collaboration. The Irish team will be here in August this year. They did that last year and they are coming again to do the same.

Is there any agency you partner with and how has it benefited the patients?

We’ve also been able to upgrade our partnership with some partners like Smile Train. Smile Train is an organization that supports the treatment of those with cleft lip and cleft palate. This is a hospital that’s accredited for that. So any individual that has a cleft lip or a cleft palate will come in here and will be treated free. In addition to that, Smile Train has also agreed to upgrade our theater. The consignment is on the way. They told me it will arrive on 25th of next month. When it arrives, they will now upgrade that theater and also bring in some equipment that will help us in the management of those that have cleft lips, cleft palates, and other surgeries that we do that involve children.

What about the area of neurosurgery?

We’ve also been able to do great work in the area of neurosurgery. We have the highest number of neurosurgeons in the country. We have six neurosurgeons all working here. We have the highest number of plastic surgeons in the country. We have seven plastic surgeons all working here. And they do exploits. Cases that cannot be managed in other teaching hospitals are being managed here. Our neurosurgeons have saved the life of many in this airborne state. Likewise, the life of our own healthcare workers.

Because of our location and because of the things that we have also passed through, our center is a research center. This is one place where Lassa Fever research is being done. Nigeria has not been involved in any vaccine trial, but for the first time, this center is one of the centers where vaccine trial will be done in this country.

So we are partnering with CEPI and all the other partners, IV, IRV, MACRO, all towards bringing up a vaccine that will be used to prevent people from coming down with Lassa Fever. And to the glory of God, this is the only center where they are also building a structure for that vaccine trial. Other places are renovations. But here they started a foundation for a three-story building. And with this, we are working towards having a live partnership with those of our foreign partners, CEPI and all the other group.

We have heard about your exploits in dialysis. Can you let the world know about this?

Our dialysis center is one of the best in the country. We have about eight dialysis machines working in this hospital. And patients from outside the border states trace their way down to this place because we have a reverse osmolysis system, an arrow system that is in two ways, at pre-treatment and treatment section before you now get the purified water that we use for dialysis. So when you have dialysis done here, it will be like a renewed life for you. And that’s why those who have come here for dialysis, don’t leave. And those who hear about what we do in dialysis come from everywhere to have them dialyzed here. And that’s why we’ve said that we want to turn this place as a hub for medical tourism so that people within and outside Nigeria can come and access healthcare here.

What do you have to say about the training of your staff and personnel?

We’ve also done well in area of training because this hospital stands on a tripod. Clinical services, training, and research. So in training, we’ve gotten accreditation in different departments. What we do in this hospital is not just accreditation as an entity. We’re now going into sub-departmental accreditations. So if you come to a department like ophthalmology, ophthalmology has about eight sub-specialties. And we have accreditation in all those eight sub-specialties. That is where we’re going. But other institutions will have accreditation in ophthalmology. If you come to obstetrics and gynecology, it has about six sub-specialties. What we now do is not just general obstetrics and gynecology. We are now going into having accreditation in all those sub-specialties. That is where we are at the moment. So this is a mega hospital. In fact, we have moved from being a tertiary hospital to a quaternary hospital because we can now give what other teaching hospitals cannot give. The same way in area of training, we have upgraded our nursing school.

What steps have you taken to upgrade nurses in A.E FUTA?

Before I came on board, all we had was just basic nursing training, basic midwifery, basic nursing. But when we came on board, we went into post-basic training. And today we have accreditation for five post-basic training in nursing. We do post-basic in accidental emergency. We do post-basic in intensive care units. We do post-basic in mental health psychiatry. We do post-basic in nephrology. We do post-basic in orthopedic. And to the glory of God, we’re the fourth in the country in nephrology. We’re the fourth in the country in ICU post-basic training. So we are a fascinating trend. Instead of our people moving from here to the north or to the west, to go and do post-basic in nephrology or ICU, people from south-south, from the whole south-east, from north-central, from all parts of the country, now come here to do nephrology and ICU post-basic nursing training.

From the foregoing, you have made monumental strides. Kindly give us a summary of your fears?

So we have been able to do a lot in this system and we keep doing that. Primarily, what I have told them is that I want every department to make their department a beautiful bride so that when management comes in, we will sit down and wine and dine with them and beautify their department. And they are doing that. Like I told you, if you go to ophthalmology department, people come from everywhere to come and access healthcare in ophthalmology. Because all the sub-specialties will have accreditation and we do exploits. We can reconstruct the eye. We can do corneal transplants. We do a lot. The same thing in denta. When the team for accreditation came here for accreditation in denta, they told us that they have identified a place in Southeast that can be a regional center for denta department. And that is what we’re doing, beautifying every aspect of the hospital. The same thing in our intensive care units. So a lot of places we’ve tried to upgrade. All we try to do is let people move around the hospital, see the good things we’ve done and talk about it. I assure you that we’ll keep working towards making this place one of the best in the country. And our dictum still remains, make A.E FUTA a home for medical tourism and a center of excellence. That way we can reverse medical tourism in Nigeria.