In its bid to meet the overall health needs of the people of Imo State and Southeast, the management of the Federal Teaching Hospital, Owerri, FTH, on Tuesday,April 16, began operations at the Hospital’s newly established state of the art Executive Specialist Clinic; Assisted Reproductive Centre and Mental Health Ward with the firm promise of providing world-class and cost efficient services to its target patients.
The Federal Teaching Hospital, Owerri, once served as the Federal Medical Centre, FMC, before its upgrade to a Teaching Hospital. However, these new developments at the hospital would as intended, bring invaluable succour to various categories of patients in the state and its environs who before now encountered difficulties ranging from traveling far distances, low quality medicare to exorbitant costs while confronting their health challenges.
Performing the opening ceremony, the FTH Chief Medical Director, Dr. Kingsley Achigbu, who expressed happiness for the milestones, disclosed that the idea to put the facilities in place, stemmed from the need to provide affordable and high quality solutions to the health needs of patients in the state and the Southeast with the new teaching status of the hospital. He added that the centres boast of good environments, experts and equipment to meet the needs of their patients.
Dr. Achigbu, a Consultant Paediatrician noted;”It is an exciting moment for us. We have just officially opened some facilities which we have put in place for the use of our esteemed patients.The Executive Specialist Clinic is open to cater for the needs of highbrow patients and those people in the society who fly to India, to Lagos, to Abuja to seek care. Let me inform them that we have all it takes for them to get care here. We have the right calibre of staff with proper orientation and attitudes, we have the specialists, we have the right equipments and we have the right environment.
“We also have the IVF centre. It is a place where Couples who were not able to have children,the natural way are assisted to be able to conceive and have their own bundles of joy. With this ceremony, it has become operational formally today. As a clinician, from time to time you meet couples, especially women who have not been able to have their own children and for many of them there is a lot of psychological pains because of how they are treated.
“So, having taken note of these, including the huge cost of undertaking these treatments in private facilities which cannot be afforded by many, we decided to setup this centre and bring it to them at an affordable cost, and in an environment within their reach. Previously, people had to travel to Abuja, Port-Harcourt and other places for this treatment. But now we have well trained personnel, we have all the necessary equipments and we have the appropriate environment to be able to deliver the same service at a cost that is affordable.”
The CMD, accompanied by other management staff of the hospital, harped on awareness creation, assuring of sustaining the centres: “These projects are sustainable because of the way they were conceptualized. As a teaching hospital now, we have the privilege under our dear President,Bola Ahmed Tinubu of benefiting from Federal Government’s yearly financial provisions for Hospitals under the capital projects. So, this would helps us to carry out activities like replacement of equipments, training and retraining of staff as well as making consumables available. This project, I tell you is a win-win for everyone,” he added.
On his own, Dr. Onyegbule Onyema, the Program Director Assisted Reproductive Centre and Head, Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department, said the term assisted emphasizes the variety of services the centre provides towards helping couples identify and overcome their fertility challenges, urging the public to take advantage of its high quality service and cost efficiency. While the Head, The Executive Specialist Clinic, Dr Nkeiruka Chinedu-Anunaso, disclosed the readiness of the clinic to offer executive services to patients, including home delivery.
Also reacting, the Head of Mental Health Unit, Professor Jude Ohaeri, posited that the opening of the centres showcased the administrative ingenuity of Dr. Achigbu, adding that the facilities would provide adequate care for patients. While Dr. Inechi MC of the same unit, lauded the initiative as the first government owned in the state, after Enugu, Abakiliki and Umuahia, adding that the in-patient centre came at the right time to address the increasing mental health challenges in the society occasioned by various factors.
