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Tag: Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital

  • Anambra gets cancer detection machine for women

    The Eldorado Multi-Specialist Hospital premises were filled with men, women, young and old, who came to witness firsthand the magic of cancer detection in Anambra State.

    It also attracted the presence of the governor of the state Willie Obiano, because it is the first of its kind.

    There was the launch of the first digital mammography machine used for early detection of breast cancer in the state by the hospital.

    The hospital came with a call on Nigerians that cancer is readily preventable and curable when detected early.

    The manager and matron of the hospital, Mrs. Isuh Chinelo Francisca, said that after four years of operation, the management decided to acquire a mammography machine to address cases of breast cancer among women in the Southeast zone.

    Isuh said the intention of the management was not exploitative in nature, hence the provision of accessible and affordable health care services.

    With the facility, she said, there would be no reason for people to suffer breast cancer any more if they embarked on routine test of their breasts.

    For an oncologist, Dr Brenda Nwamuo, the World Health Organization (WHO), ranked Nigeria as the fourth highest nation devastated by the scourge of breast cancer and other cancer related deaths.

    Dr. Nwamuo said: ‘WHO records, also reveal that one million new cases are recorded yearly and 4.4 million women are currently living with the disease across the world.

    ‘The record also shows that an estimated 1.7 million women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in the year 2020, mostly from the developing world, representing a 26 per cent increase from the current level,’ she said.

    Nwamuo, of the Radiology Department, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi, noted that though cancer remained the commonest disease among women in the black race and Africa, it did not become a death sentence.

    ‘Breast cancer is a disease, but it does not pose as a death sentence if detected early enough with mammography manned by a competent radiographer and treated appropriately.”

    The late symptoms, according to her, include double vision, muscle weakness, headache, nausea, cough, and shortness of breath, jaundice, loss of appetite, weight loss, and bone pain.

    Governor Obiano said it was the reason his administration started the state Health insurance scheme.

    Obiano was represented by Dr Simeon Onyemaechi, the Executive Secretary, Anambra State Health Insurance Agency (ASHIA).

    The governor commended the hospital for such innovation, while pledging to partner with it to ensure quality healthcare delivery as envisioned by his government.

    He said the government was desirous of turning the state into a medical tourism of some sort.

    Obiano called for pooling of resources and collaboration among health specialists to set up multi-specialist hospitals, rather than mushroom clinics.

    He argued that it was the only way to improve health care services.

    The practical demonstration of breast cancer detection was carried out by the President of Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria, Dr. Ifeoma Ajuba.

    She pointed out that once breast cancer was detected early enough, it could be prevented.

  • ‘We don’t detain patients for not paying’

    The Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH) in Nnewi, Anambra State, has denied allegations that it detaining indigent patients.

    The Chief Medical Director (CMD), Prof. Anthony Igwegbe, who made the clarification on Wednesday in Nnewi, said the hospital had no policy of detaining anybody over inability to pay bills.

    He explained that patients who delayed in payment were given some period of grace to pay. He also hinted that the hospital sometimes write off the bills of indigent patients.

    According to Igwegbe, some philanthropists pay occasional visits to the hospital, especially during festivities, to offset bills for indigent patients.

    Read Also: UCH oversubscribed, overwhelmed by patients — CMD

    He said: “We do not trap anybody. We offer services to our patients and they are expected to pay thereafter. We use our facilities, drugs, expertise and materials. At the end of the day, patients are expected to pay so we can replenish those things to treat others.

    “Sometimes we have patients who are very indigent and we write off their bills. But that is a great loss to the hospital because it affects our finances and running of the hospital. When you don’t replace your consumables, you run out of stock.”

    The CMD, however, hinted that medical services would soon begin at the hospital’s permanent site in between Nnewi and Oraifite.

    He said the movement became necessary to decongest the temporary site which the hospital had outgrown over the years.

  • Anambra doctors to offer free services to rural dwellers

    Over 120 consultants in teaching hospitals in Anambra State have expressed their willingness to offer free medical services to rural dwellers in various communities of the state.

    They said their closeness to the rural communities would reduce the difficulties locals encounter accessing them at the teaching hospitals.

    The Chairman, Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Dr. Eric Ihekwoaba, in a chat with the Nation, regretted heavy concentration of specialists doctors at the teaching hospitals as against the remote areas of the state.

    He solicited for state government’s partnership and support to ensure the body extended qualitative health care services to many, especially in the rural areas.

    ‘We have high concentration of specialists doctors at the teaching hospitals but in the rural areas, we don’t.

    “We want the government to help us so we give our services at no cost. So far, the cost of the treatment we gave were fully borne by the doctors.

    “It is purely humanitarian and non-governmental. It has no political undertone. We want to give back to society where we are working.

    He said, “Part of the AGM was free medical outreach to remote areas of the state, targeted at reaching out to indigent patients, and those at difficult terrains who cannot reach us at the teaching hospitals.

    “Our target populations are those who have conditions that can be managed. So we have requested that the state government partner with us to ensure sustainability.

    “After treating the patients for the first time, the government can carry on with them through monitoring and follow up.

    “Apart from that, this facility we are using to treat people need to be provided by the government so we can consolidate that with our services.

    “The partnership will also involve structural facilities including provision of accommodation for doctors in such areas to ease their work.

    “As federal workers working in the state, we have to give back to them because they have accommodated us, and if the environment is hostile, we cannot work here.

    Revealing that 2016 edition of the outreach gulped a whopping sum of N5milllion, Ihekwoaba said the association was already spending over N6million in the current edition.

    His words, “What this means is that it will be difficult to carry out the outreach at a regular intervals because of funds.

    “But if government can come in to ameliorate the cost, we can give free medical services at a more regular intervals may be six months or annually.

    “We have more than 120 consultants in the teaching hospitals willing to work than the places we visited.

    “More importantly, some of our resident doctors who are in training also need this avenue to perform surgery unlike when they are in teaching hospitals.

    “It will help our younger doctors to also work in rural area because it is not everyone that will work in town.

    “We need these people more in the rural areas where there are more diseases and people cannot access health care.

    “Everyone has right to receive qualitative health care and that’s what we are doing.”

  • Jubilation at NAUTH as group pays patients’ bills

    It was an atmosphere of excitement at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi, Anambra State, when the medical bills of financially incapacitated patients were offset by a Lagos-based association, Elite Fitness Club.

    The Nation gathered that many patients in the hospital had spent extra time at their various wards even after recovery following their inability to pay their bills.

    The group, during the visit to the hospital, was taken round the different wards in the hospital by the Chief Medical Director of the Hospital, Prof. Anthony Igwuegbe, where they interacted with the patients.

    Speaking with The Nation, leader of the team, Chief Amobi Ike, said the visit was part of their annual rituals of visiting hospitals or destitute homes to offer succour to the needy.

    He said no fewer than 100 patients were targeted to benefit from the philanthropy, adding that his organisation would spend over N5 million on the “redemption mission.”

    The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Prof. Anthony Igwuegbe, expressed appreciation to the group for their magnanimity in picking the bills of the “very poor patients” in the hospital.

    He said the inability of the patients to offset their bills after treatment had been one of the major challenges of the

    hospital, which he said had adversely affected the hospital’s finances.

    He said, “Many patients remained in their various wards for too long after recovery because of their inability to pay their bills.

    “Some of them hardly feed well, while some, for lack of spaces, are no more on hospital beds; so you see the reason why such people should go to their various homes.

    “This hospital has been facing challenges of patients not being able to offset their bills after treatment, and it has been affecting the hospital’s purse negatively.

    “This is why we are grateful to Elite Fitness Club, for their intervention. We also look forward to receiving such magnanimity from other spirited individuals and groups.”

    One of the patients who benefited from the offer, Anthony Ilozo, was full of appreciation to the group, just as he thanked God for relieving him of the burden of heavy hospital bill.

    The visibly excited Ilozo, who had recovered from a major operation, confessed that he was in the hospital for additional two months after he was discharged.

    “I’ve been here for over two months patiently waiting for when my family will raise fund to offset my bills,” he explained.

  • Woman dies, six injured in Anambra auto crash

    A middle-aged woman on Thursday, lost her life while six others sustained varying degrees of injuries in a fatal accident along the Enugu-Onitsha expressway, Anambra State.

    The accident which occurred at about 5.30 pm, close to the Anambra State government house, involved a commercial bus with registration number AWK 166 XX and a Toyota Camry car with registration number, FGG 28 LN.

    An eye witness, who identified herself as Chiamaka Ugo, said the Toyota Camry somersaulted into a nearby drainage after ramming into the bus.

    She said the victims were rushed to hospital by men of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) who arrived the scene shortly after the accident took place.

    Confirming the incident, the Sector Commander of the FRSC in the State, Mr Sunday Ajayi, said three of the injured persons were taken to a nearby hospital in Awka.

    He however said three others in very critical condition were conveyed with an ambulance belonging FRSC to the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi.

    Ajayi, who blamed the accident on wrongful overtaking and over speeding, appealed to motorists to exercise caution while plying the highway.

  • Metuh hospitalised in Nnewi, may be referred to UNTH Enugu – Lawyer

    Metuh hospitalised in Nnewi, may be referred to UNTH Enugu – Lawyer

    The trial of former spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP ), Olisa Metuh and his company, Destra Investment Limited on charges of money laundering was stalled yesterday owning to Metuh’s absence in court.

    Metuh and Destra are being tried before the Federal High Court in Abuja for allegedly receiving N400m unlawfully from the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) in 2014. They are said to have also engaged in money laundering to the tune of $2m.

    At the scheduled resumption of the trial yesterday, Metuh’s lawyer, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), told the court that his client was absent because he was on admission at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital in Nnewi, Anambra State.

    Ikpeazu noted that the hospital has written a letter dated January 21, 2018 indicating that his client had been on admission since January 20, 2017.

    He read some portions of the letter from the hospital, where it stated that “we are managing him” and that it “may refer him to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital ( UNTH ), Enugu” for further treatment.

    Ikpeazu said he knew that the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital in Nnewi hospital “is not as equipped as UNTH Enugu.”

    In reaction to the reference to a recent Supreme Court judgment on the case by the prosecution lawyer, Sylvanus Tahir, Ikpeazu said the trial judge, Justice Okon Abang has always given the case prompt hearing.

    He said the claim about Metuh’s ill health was not orchestrated by the defence to frustrate the trial.

    Ikpeazu applied for an adjournment to a later date to enable the defence report to the court on his client’s health situation.

    In further reaction to Tahir’ observation that the Supreme Court had, in its January 12, 2018 judgment in the appeal by Destra, order accelerated hearing, the company’s lawyer, Tochukwu Onwugbufor (SAN), said the Supreme Court’s directive for a speedy trial would not have a remarkable impact on the trial.

    Onwugbufor said, “Everybody who has participated in this case knows that your lordship has never tolerated any delay.

    “From my experience, the court has been very expeditious in the handling of this case and matters before it. Even the motion that went to the Supreme Court was determined by your lordship and it never constituted any delay to the hearing of this case.”

    Responding, Tahir said Metuh’s absence would hamper further progress in the trial. He said he would not oppose the defence’s request for adjournment because it was based on health ground.

    Tahir noted that the development would defeat the intention of the Supreme Court in its January 12 judgment. He said, “The apex court was clear and very emphatic on the need to bring the case to a conclusion.

    “The Supreme Court made an order directing this court to treat this case with dispatch. And here we are confronted with the situation that will seemingly defeat the order made by the Supreme Court,” Tahir said.

    In his ruling, Justice Abang observed that the trial was scheduled to resume yesterday for the prosecution to cross-examination Metuh’s 9th witness, Adebayo Bodurin.

    The judge agreed to adjourn to the next day (today) since the prosecution did not oppose the defence’s request for adjournment to enable it brief the court on Metuh’s health status.