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Tag: Benin Central hospital

  • Teenager impregnated by own father gives birth

    A 13-year old girl who was impregnated by her father has given birth to a baby at the Benin Central Hospital.

    The teenager who was in primary six when her father put her in family way has been in protective custody of the Edo State government.

    She is the eldest daughter of her 42 years old father identified as Friday Moses.

    Her father, who was a commercial motorcyclist, started having sex with her since she was seven after the death of her mother.

    An Edo State Family Court had in October last year sentenced the man to 14 years imprisonment with hard labour without an option of fine.

    The father hails from Cross River State but live in Edo State.

    It was gathered that the teenager delivered last Saturday.

    Read Also: Man stones father to death

    In a chat with newsmen, she said she would like to continue with her education and become a medical doctor.

    She stated that as at the time she was impregnated by her father, she was yet to write her First School Leaving Certificate examination.

    The teenager said she would be happy if her education is supported by good spirited individuals.

    Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Philip Ugbodaga, said he has directed the management to cancel the medical bills of the teenager.

    Dr. Ugbodaga said the hospital was in collaboration with the Ministry if Women Affairs and Social Development to take proper care of the teenage mother and her baby.

    Ugbodaga noted that subsequent assistance for the victim would be based on situation that arose.

    Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Ms Magdalene Ohenhen, could not be reached for comments.

     

  • Equipment at new central hospital may rot away unless…

    By next month, the new five stars Bénin Central Hospital will be two years old. It was built by the administration of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and commissioned by President Mohammadu Buhari. The building of the new hospital was conceptualized in 2010 after the death of Oshiomhole’s wife, Clara.

    Oshiomhole promised to build a well-equipped hospital to end medical tourism in Nigeria and also a place where diseases like cancer could be screened and diagnosed early in memory of his late wife who died of cancer. Today, the 200-bed space hospital is fitted with the latest technology in health care delivery. There are fears that the equipment installed in the hospital may rot away if the hospital is not put into use within one year.

    The hospital has two ambulance bases in the acute and urgent wards. Each of the wards at the emergency space has ten bed space. There are two mini-surgical theatre and a major surgical theatre in the hospital. The beds in the burnt section are fitted with massage relief to prevent patients from having bed sores.

    In line with his promise, former Governor Oshiomhole ensured that a mammography, equipment used for diagnosing and locating tumors of the breast otherwise known as breast cancer, is installed in the hospital. One important feature about the mammography is that it could remove a lump from inside the breast thus preventing cancer at an early stage. There are also wards for VIP patients for those that could pay for its services.

    However, residents in the state are not happy that the hospital has not opened its doors for business.  Last Monday, some civil rights groups under the auspices of Talakawa Parliament launched ‘Operation Open the New hospital’ by staging a protest in front of the complex

    Leader of the prótesters, Comrade Anthony Omoregie, said they were demanding opening of the new hospital. He said it was a slap on Edo people for an hospital to be commissioned and put under lock and key

    “It seems we are playing politics with our lives. This hospital is now a place where girls take selfie and upload to social media. We want this hospital to be open.”

    The firm, Vamed Engineering, that was responsible for supplying and installing equipment at the new five star Bénin Central hospital said the equipment have two years life span it they were not put into use. It absolved itself as being responsible for the delay in the opening of the hospital to the general public.

    Site Engineer of the Vamed, Anthony Azodo, told newsmen that contrary to people’s opinion that there are no equipment inside the hospital, all equipment and office furniture have been supplied and installed to full capacity.

    Anthony explained that the hospital was not fully equipped as at the time it was commissioned because of the sudden rise in the price of dollar and debunked allegation by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party that equipment in the new hospital were brought in from the Stella Obasanjo Children and Women Hospital built by Chief Lucky Igbinedion.

    He said all is set for the hospital to open for business but the firm is waiting for Governor Godwin Obaseki to send in personnel for training on how to handle the equipment.

    Warning that the equipment have a duration of two years to wear out if not put into use, Anthony said he performed functional check on the equipment to ensure the machines are still in good state.

    According to him, “You can see for yourself, the whole place have been equipped. They are waiting for personnel that will use them. We have written several memos to the Edo State Government to get personnel to handle various machines.

    “We are still waiting for them to be trained. You have seen the equipment in their numbers. Most of you checked your blood pressure with them. People are saying things for their selfish interest.

    “The equipment came in batches. Majority of them were installed last year and early this year we installed the rest. 100 percent of the equipment have been installed as we have in the bill of quantity.”

    “Once the users are ready, we do the training and start maintenance because we have maintenance agreement with the State Government. Once the government respond, we start. We have submitted letters to them. We just received state auditors to take inventory.

    “Each of the machines have schedule for them. It will take a maximum of one week to train personnel that will handle them. The expatriates were on ground. They waited but their visas expired so they returned to their country. Some of the equipment that are not hear will be supplied in the third phase subject to additional fund.”

    Governor Obaseki had last year said the state government lacked the capacity to run the new hospital as his focus is to retool all primary health care centers across the state manned by qualified personnel.

    On the new five star hospital, Obaseki said, “My concern is that given what we have design, the equipment we have purchased, we do not have the capacity to run the new Five Star hospital. If we run it the way we run our other hospitals, that thing will not be there in the next two years.  “Our plan is to look for private partner who understands how to run hospital, who has done it in other parts of the world to come and run that hospital. They will ensure they maintain it and provide the kind of care we want.

    “When we conceived the hospital after the death of Clara Oshiomhole, it was supposed to take care of some diseases like cancers, renal failure, cardiac failure and all the kind of challenges people go to India for. It does make sense that in order to make people who go abroad get cured here with same quality. Key to that is nursing care. We don’t have a nursing school. We are working with our partners to re-establish our Nursing and Midwifery school not on local standard but on international standards. By the time you finish there, you can work in any hospital in the world.”

  • Edo JOHESU shuns strike directive

    Members of the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) in the Edo State owned hospitals have shunned directives by its national body to join in a nationwide strike action.

    A visit to the Benin Central hospital showed that all health workers were at their duty post.

    Patients were attended to at the Accident and Emergency Ward while doctors and nurses were seen administering treatment to patients on admission.

    It was gathered that the state government met with the health workers and gave them reasons on why they should not join in the strike action.

    One of the reasons adduced by the state government, according to sources, was that there was no industrial disharmony in the state and that workers were paid salaries before the end of the month.

    When contacted for comments, State Commissioner for Health, Dr. David Osifo, said he just received notification from the state JOHESU that they would not be joining in the strike action.

    “They are not joining. They have notified me that they are not joining the strike action”, he said.

    Read Also: JOHESU strike paralyses activities at LASUTH

  • Libya deportee goes into labour in Edo

    Libya deportee goes into labour in Edo

    One of the 16 girls that were on Tuesday deported from Libya with pregnancy has gone into labour.

    The expectant mother simply identified as Nike was rushed to the Benin Central hospital and was yet to deliver as at press time.

    It would be recalled that 169 persons mostly females were received by officials of the Edo State Task Force on Human Trafficking and were lodged at a hotel for possible rehabilitation.

    Governor Godwin Obaseki had earlier promised to train the deportees on any skill of their choice.

    Edo State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice,who is also the chairman of the task force, Prof. Yinka Omorogbe, stated that the purpose of rehabilitating the deportees was to eradicate trafficking in persons and stem the illegal migration.

    “If you want to travel, do it legally. We are worried about what the people go through when they decided to travel to Libya illegally,” she said.

    “Government is taking the problem as its own. We are interested in those who will partner with the state government to address the issue.

    “As we have seen, 80 percent of illegal migrants are from Edo State so it has been a big challenge to us.

    “We are trying to assist them and be integrated into the society. Those who want to go back to school would be encouraged to go back while those who need training in skill acquisition would be trained in their chosen skills.”

  • Benin Central hospital patients protest robbery attacks 

    Benin Central hospital patients protest robbery attacks 

    Relatives of patients and some patients receiving treatment at the Benin Central Hospital on Tuesday protested incessant armed robbery attacks at the maternity Ward of the hospital.

    The protesters locked the gates leading to the hospital and prevented out-patients and staff from accessing the hospital for over two hours.

    Spokesperson of the protesters, Mrs. Loveth Ogenekaro, said the protest was to register their grievances over what she described as incessant robbery incident in the hospital.

    She said, “Last Sunday at about 1am, armed robbers entered the maternity Ward through the ceiling and disposed a patient’s relation of N100, 000 and three phones.

    “This is not the first time of  robbery attack in the hospital, last week patients at the accident and emergency ward were also robbed and the management is not doing anything about it,”

    She accused the hospital’s management of doing nothing about the insecurity situation at the hospital.

    “The money was meant to settle the hospital bill of the patient who delivered at the hospital. I was the one who borrowed her N5000 to buy drugs,” she said.

    Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Philip Ugbodaga who addressed the protesters assured that adequate security would be provided.

    “When the incident happened, I reported the matter to the police and our security guard were able to get one the robbers and was handed over to the police. We have requested for police presence at night,”

    He said they believe that the robbery was done in collaboration with an insider because when they entered the ward, they didn’t even ask for the money, but went straight to where the money was kept to pick it.

    Also reacting. Director, Hospital Services and Chief Executive Hospital Management Board, Dr. Chris Obaseki, described the development as unfortunate, saying hospital is a place that patients sought for treatment.

    Obaseki however assured that they are doing their best to provide security in the hospital.

     

  • Waiting for Benin specialist hospital

    Waiting for Benin specialist hospital

    A legacy project of the Adams Oshiomhole administration in Edo State, the Bénin Central Hospital, is generating a row between forces in the state, OSAGIE OTABOR

    The Bénin Central Hospital came out of the ruins of a hospital built by the colonial masters in 1902. The hospital was conceptualised in 2010 after the death of Clara, ex-Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s wife. It was planned to bea well-equipped hospital to end medical tourism in Nigeria. It was also intended to be the place where diseases, such as cancer, could be screened and diagnosed early.

    The hospital is a beauty to behold on Sapele Road in Benin City. Anybody not aware that it is a hospital will liken it to a five star hotel. The hospital is a 200-bed space hospital said to be fitted with the latest technology in health care delivery.

    President Mohammadu Buhari, who inaugurated the project, said: “It takes a lot of courage for the Governor to do what he did.

    “I am impressed with the work. This is the best thing Oshiomhole can do for the people. When I was coming, I asked the governor, ‘Whose edifice is this?’”

    Oshiomhole said the hospital was the only way to show equality among men by providing facilities for both the rich and the poor, adding that the hospital was built following his conviction that public health care facilities should not be inferior to private health facilities.

    “I almost wept when I first visited this hospital. What I found here was shocking and I concluded that even if a healthy man visited the hospital, the healthy would be admitted the next day.”

    “This hospital is fitted with the latest technology in health care delivery. This hospital will not be run as a public service.

    “The whole idea is that when a typical Edo person comes from a village like mine, if he gets in here and realises that even the environment psychologically impacts on him and he begins to appreciate that he is important, he is in the hands of professional healthcare providers, that way, that forgotten rural man, for once, will have access to modern facilities. You don’t need to board an airline to London, to India, to Europe to be told how hospitals look there. I am sure that those of you who may have for one reason or another travelled, there are many hospitals in Europe and in India that are not as beautiful as this,” Oshiomhole said.

    However, eight months after inauguration of the hospital, the hospital is still under lock and key. Edo people are yet to get the benefits of the new hospital as no date is in sight for the opening of the hospital to the general public.

    In December last year, chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by their chairman, Chief Dan Orbih, caused a stir at the hospital by pretending to rush one of their members in need of medical attention to the hospital.

    They were told by security men that there were no doctors or nurses on duty. The PDP chieftains, who later walked round the hospital, expressed displeasure at the absence of medical personnel even when facilities were in place.

    The following encounter ensued at the hospital when the supposed patient was rushed to the hospital.

    Orbih: Where is the receptionist?

    Security man: Nobody is around sir.

    Orbih: We have a sick man here and there is no doctor, no nurse?

    Security man: No doctor here sir.

    Sick man groans: My belle, my belle

    Orbih: This man is dying and no doctor.

    After walking round the hospital, Orbih told reporters that the hospital’s inauguration was fraudulent.

    His words: “The process of awarding, executing and commissioning showed that this place ought to be a functional hospital. Even with adequate facilities, there are no doctors or nurses to attend to patients.”

    Speaking at the annual public lecture series of the Correspondents Chapel, Governor Godwin Obaseki said the government lacked the capacity to run the new hospital.

    Obaseki explained that his policy on health care delivery was to domesticate the National Health Act. He said his focus was to retool all primary health care centres.

    He said: “My concern is that given what we have designed, the equipment we have purchased, we do not have the capacity to run the new five star hospital. If we run it the way we run our other hospitals, that thing will not be there in the next two years.

    “Our plan is to look for private partner who understands how to run hospital, who has done it in other parts of the world to come and run that hospital. They will ensure they maintain it and provide the kind of care we want.

    “When we conceived the hospital after the death of Clara Oshiomhole, it was supposed to take care of some diseases like cancers, renal failure, cardiac failure and all the kind of challenges people go to India for. It does make sense to make people who go abroad get cured here with same quality. Key to that is nursing care. We don’t have a nursing school. We are working with our partners to re establish our Nursing and Midwifery school not on local standard but on international standards. By the time you finish there, you can work in any hospital in the world.”

    Orbih said Obaseki’s comments confirmed their investigations that a company registered abroad with the name of children of some APC chieftains as directors has been lined down to bid for the running of the five star hospital.

    Orbih, who urged Edo people to reject the planned privatisation of the hospital, said the APC-government would not escape from its many sins against Edo people.

    His words: “At the commissioning ceremony, Oshiomhole said it was a five star Hospital fully equipped to meet the health need of the people. He said Nigerians will no longer have cause to go abroad to medical treatment.

    “I am happy that Obaseki has admitted that the hospital built by Oshiomhole was a fraud. They used state money to build an empty hall.  I am ready to defend that it is fraud. They have concluded plans to register a company with some of their children as directors to come and bid to be partners to run the hospital. There is going to be punishment for the sins against Edo.”

    Certainly, the last has not been heard of this magnificent hospital, whose goodness is yet to be felt by the people for whom it was built.

  • Obaseki knocks PDP over stir at new five star hospital

    Obaseki knocks PDP over stir at new five star hospital

    Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki has knocked chieftains of the People’s Democratic Party in Edo State for causing a stir at the new five star Benin Central hospital.

    Obaseki said the PDP chieftains led by the party’s State chairman, Chief Dan Orbih, wanted to score cheap political point by feigning the illness of a healthy family man.

    Chief Orbih had described the five star hospital recently inaugurated by President Mohammadu Buhari as a fraud when no doctors or nurses were on duty to treat the ‘patient’ brought by the PDP.

    Governor Obaseki who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. John Mayaki, said governance is not run on an ad hoc approach as the PDP want Edo people to believe.

    Obaseki explained that the ongoing 3-day strategic policy dialogue workshop would afford his administration the opportunity to holistically look at all sectors including the five star hospital.

    He said the workshop is expected to come up with method to administer the various sectors in the state including the new hospital.

    According to him, “After the commissioning of the said facility by the past administration, you are well aware that there was change of guard in government – and as such, this disgruntled people should give us some time to look at the entire sector.

    “Edo people watched the said scene in the electronic media and came to a consensus that the alleged illness of one Ibawah – who surrendered himself for such ungodly act, was not only a charade but orchestrated by the PDP and their mischievous Chieftains.

    “We envision a broader perspective – the possibility of expanding the facility to become a one-stop-shop for medical tourism – and not the normal hospital we are used to – that facility was born a 5-star and nothing short of that for Edo people. After the strategic policy dialogue workshop, a blueprint on government’s direction would be unveiled.”

     

  • Buhari commissions Edo five-star hospital

    Buhari commissions Edo five-star hospital

    President Mohammadu Buhari on Monday inaugurated the new five-star Central Hospital built by Governor Adams Oshiomhole.

    The Benin Central hospital was first built in 1902 with only 10 beds.

    President Buhari who is in the state for a two days official working visit said it is his third time of visiting the state to commission projects.

    Buhari noted that the hospital is the best legacy Governor Oshiomhole would be bequeathing to the people of the state.

    He said he was impressed with the hospital project as according to him, “it takes a lot of courage for the Governor to do what he did.”

    “I am impressed with the work. This is the best thing Oshiomhole can do for the people. When I was coming, I asked the governor, “Whose edifice is this?”

    President Buhari stated that many elite would prefer to build a more comfortable environment for themselves but Oshiomhole opted to build a hospital that would benefit the people.

    Governor Oshiomhole in his remark said the only way to show equality among men was for government to provide facilities for both the rich and the poor.

    Oshiomhole noted that successive administration had patched the central hospital but he decided to build the hospital instead of erecting a new government house.

    He noted the hospital was built following his conviction that public health care facilities should not be inferior to private health facilities.

    According to him, “I almost wept when I first visited this hospital. What I found here was shocking and I concluded that even if a healthy man visited the hospital, the healthy would be admitted the next day.”

    “This hospital is fitted with the latest technology in health care delivery. This hospital will not be run as public service.

    “We will make that efforts to work are rewarded and not for those that want to embark on strike.”

    President Buhari is expected to commission the Upper Siluko road and the new Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia College.

     

  • Four die in Edo road accident

    Four die in Edo road accident

    Four persons were on friday killed in a lone road accident that occurred along the Benin bye-pass at the Sapele road axis.

    Three died on the spot while the other died before doctors at the Benin Central hospital could attend to him.

    It was gathered that the Toyota Hiace bus they were traveling in somersaulted severally after one of the tyres bursted.

    Officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps used two hilux vans to convey the victims to the hospital.

    Doctors at the hospital were seen rushing in to stabilize the victims who were too feeble to talk.

    Sapele road Unit Commander of the FRSC, Omotosho Lasisi, who confirmed the incident said 11 victims were taken to the hospital while six others refused to go to the hospital.

    He said three died at the spot and added that vehicle has been removed to ease traffic flow on the road.