NAUTH CMD, Prof Joseph Ugboaja briefs the press corps on the upcoming visit of the Health Minister, Prof Pate

Professor Joseph Ugboaja, the CMD of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH) took time out of his frenetic schedule to address the press corps about the working visit of the Minister of Health, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate to NAUTH’s permanent site.

The visit of Prof Pate will mark the final move to the permanent site of NAUTH, in addition to the commissioning of more projects. The Minister will also join the management and staff of the hospital in celebration of the first anniversary of the commissioning of the permanent site by the presidency.

The CMD informed the press that all health-related operations have been moved to the permanent site as the clinical wards formerly domiciled at the temporary site have moved to their respective buildings with a full complement of modern support facilities.

The Minister will also preside over the recognition of two of NAUTH’s principal stakeholders, Dr Cletus Ibeto and Sir Emeka Offor, who will each have a structure named after him.

The hospital will also recognize the pioneers who captained the hospital from its founding as a state Institution to its present status as a federal Institution.

NAUTH will also honor the Distinguished Senator, Ifeanyi Ubaj and Governor Chukwuma Soludo for the unique roles they played for the institution.

Professor Ugboaja informed the press that moving to the permanent site was a bold project hinged on his vision imbued with an article of faith that the dream can be achieved.

When Prof Ugboaja applied for the job, the fulcrum of his manifesto was that he would move the hospital from the temporary site to the permanent site. And also, I have the vision to make NAUTH among the top three full-service hospitals in Nigeria. It is important to note that the hospital has been at the temporary site for over thirty years. There was no infrastructure; precisely, there were no buildings, roads, water, drainages, etc.

“You can now appreciate where I am coming from, and I began my tenure as a CMD in 2021,” Professor Ugboaja said. “During the COVID epidemic, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah and the progressives wanted to invest in the hospital, I was among the people who begged him to build the structure here at the permanent site. So it was fortuitous that the building was the first complete structure erected in the hospital.

“Like I said, we have the vision that NAUTH will be among the top three university hospitals with at least 2000 bed capacity.” Hence, an urgent need to realize the vision was to harness the human material and restructure the various departments and units in line to pursue the goal of attaining the vision.

“So it was a systematic approach with the right mix of the core management team you see today and the expanded management team that believes that the vision is achievable,” he continued.

The CMD being desirous to compete with the leading hospitals in West Africa, began the process of fixing the environment with the proper esthetics, trees, plants, and landscape befitting our dream hospital.

“As the infrastructure was being developed to satisfy our vision, we procured top-notch equipment from such companies as General Electric to ensure consistency and line with where the hospital was going. We moved the hospital from analog operations to digitalization. Some of the staff are still trying to master it, but it is a constant training till everyone has come on board.

“While we are developing the permanent site at a rapid speed, we made a deliberate decision to ensure a happy workforce by ensuring that their needs were met. Promotion of deserving workers was made, and those who applied for regularization of status were promptly granted. “We ensure that NAUTH will not experience work disruption as a result of not meeting the worker’s entitlement.

“The key facility we have here is the oxygen plant. We have two oxygen plants that meet the needs of our hospital, and we will serve other hospitals. Our collaboration with the LNG has yielded two additional oxygen plants. We also have a well-piped oxygen line. Our production and distribution of oxygen is assured to meet the needs of other hospitals.

“The stakeholders we hold very dear are our external stakeholders. We have the traditional stakeholders, community stakeholders, and government agencies. HRH Igwe KON Orizu III has been the most consistent supporter of the hospital. Since I became the CMD, he has been to this permanent site not less than seven times to encourage us. Igwe Orizu built the ICT Center, which is the most magnificent structure in the entire hospital.

“The financial management is key to what we are doing. You must look for money. The public funding is very key, and we must deploy the money where it is earmarked to go. Our external stakeholders are also key to our success, despite the difficulties” Ugboaja said.

Professor Ugboaja lauded Professor Pate, the Health Minister by saying that he had never seen a Minister like him. Professor Pate is determined to see the reorganization of the public health system to be more efficient and effective. That the Minister left a lucrative position he had to help the President succeed. Ugboaja said that the Minister has attracted a lot of funding which he has deployed to improve the public health sector. That was one of the reasons he insisted that Prof Pate would visit NAUTH.

So besides the courtesy calls that the Minister will make to the Governor of Anambra State and other selected personalities, he will conduct the groundbreaking ceremony of the Regional Radio Diagnostic Center which NAUTH has been so blessed to win the right in the Southeast geopolitical region to host