Odimmegwa Johnpeter/Abuja
The Chief Medical Director of National Hospital Abuja, Prof. Muhammad Raji Mahmud has reeled out the achievements and milestones recorded by the hospital as it marks its 25th Anniversary in Abuja.
According to Prof. Mahmud, the hospital has actually made significant improvement since inception. He noted that despite its initial designation at inception as a hospital for women and children, the expansion of its mandate to involve all other specialities of all ages and all genders meant that the expansion of its services has become quite enormous. His words: “I don’t think there is any hospital that can boast of the number of departments that the National Hospital has in this whole country.
“So, also the heavy equipment that the National Hospital has had. If you follow our trajectory from inception, you will see that the National Hospital has been the first of so many things.
“For instance, when you are talking about IVF, the National Hospital is the first public hospital in Nigeria to start IVF. When you are talking about cancer care, as of today, I will say that National Hospital is the first in the whole of Africa buy if I want to be conservative, I will say the whole sub-sahara region.
“National hospital is leading when you talk about nuclear medicine, which is still an evolving field, National Hospital has been in the forefront, and we have been training a number of staff in various fields. When you are talking about neurosurgery, National Hospital is recognised not only in Nigeria but in various parts of the world. Here in the hospital, we were able to modify a certain surgery that has been accepted worldwide and is published in our foremost journal.
“When you are talking about neonatal care, National Hospital has taken giant strides in that we have fabricated something we called “Seepa” for neonates, which is an innovation that wasn’t there before. This innovation has been adapted and adopted in the country and on the continent , and recently, we have managed sextuplet. Very, very tiny babies that were given birth here, they had their delivery here, and these children grew to a certain age and size before they were let go, and all of them left this hospital alive and they still come to us for their care.
“When you are talking about laparoscopic surgery, we have done some giant strides here. Yes, even some Co-join twins separation has been done here. Most importantly, we do not only render services but also training.
“So, every single year, National Hospital churns out a number of consultants, that is specialist in medicine. Also, we churn out a number of postgraduate nurses in oncology and nephrology. Our hospital has been a destination for interns. In fact, all the specialities you talk about in healthcare, National Hospital, give that internship service, so, also residency training.
“When you look at our hospital record management system, that department has been at the forefront in their own field of medical information management. Each time, there is a review of ICD’s,
National Hospital is the first to adopt in the country. Mind you, it is likely to be the whole sub-sahara region. So, we are about the first to start the digitalisation of our records. Like now, we have about the most advanced electronics medical records system that has increased transparency. It has cut off a lot of corruption and leakages, and because of some of these changes, within a year or so, how much of IGR we have been able to increase.
” When we started about a year and half ago, our IGR was roughly about 180, 200 per month per month, but now we are clocking 400 to 500 million per month. That is just within a span of a couple of months, and we are still trying to expand our digitalisation process to ensure more accountability, more transparency, and more efficiency. Staff are happier and easier doing their work, but still, they are not without challenges. We have enormous challenges.
“Most of the challenges have to do with funding, that is why I am very happy that our former board chair who has been a father of this hospital is also crying on our behalf that we really need that support. Support can come from the federal government, but we must be careful because we know that the federal government can not take up all the finances of the country in terms of health. It cannot even if it wants to as there are so many competing interests, so many competing needs I the country from security to food. That means that some other factors or influences have to come in for stakeholders. Part of these are private stakeholders. They can come in as individuals to come and improve some of our facilities, and enhance some of our services, or they can come in form PPP to engage us and then we are hoping and willing to do PPP with them in so many other fields and we can also wish to have National and international collaborators who can come first to interface to see how we can move this healthcare forward.
Earlier, the former board chairman of the National Hospital and former minister of water resources, Hamza Sakwa, observed that the staff looked happy, which is evidence of good leadership of the hospital. Again, he noted that public reaction on National Hospital is positive, which means their services are rendered excellently. His words: “I wish to associate myself with the National Hospital ”
The highlight of the anniversary commemoration was the unveiling of the anniversary logo, which was performed by the Special guest of honour, Hamza Sakwa, and assisted by the CMD of National Hospital, Prof. Muhammad Raji Mahmud.
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