The Nation Newspaper

Tag: UNTH

  • ESUT under siege, three students shot

    ESUT under siege, three students shot

    THREE students of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Agbani, are on danger list of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu.

    They were Friday night shot and wounded by suspected armed bandits who invaded their hostel. The affected students are currently undergoing intensive surgery at the hospital where they were rushed in the early hours of Saturday.

    One of the students was shot in the stomach and it was suspected that some pellets of the bullet were lodged in his abdomen. As at the time of this report, doctors were still battling to remove the pellets.

    The two other victims were also undergoing surgery at the hospital while efforts were being made to contact their parents.

    The Unique Hostel where the incident occurred and other hostels within the Agbani permanent site of the university, according to sources, have been placed under serious security watch as it was suspected that the gunmen could be members of a secret cult.

    To forestall a reprisal attack, the source said the management had taken measures to beef up security at the hostels with plain-clothe policemen deployed to strategic locations.

    Police spokesman, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, who confirmed the armed attack, said preliminary investigations revealed that the gunmen could be “student robbers”, assuring that the police would do everything possible to get to the root of the matter.

    He could not say if any arrest had been made but he said that the command was already on top of the situation and would give further details after the ongoing investigations.

    “From what we gathered when the gunmen attacked some students at the ESUT Unique Lodge, which is mainly boys’ hostel, there was a stiff resistance by the students who succeeded in arresting one of the gunmen.  The arrested gunman alerted his armed colleagues who returned to the hostel and began shooting indiscriminately during which three of the students were shot and wounded,” the police spokesman said.

  • ‘UNTH has state-of-the-art facilities’

    ‘UNTH has state-of-the-art facilities’

    Ihemegbunem Okafor is an Enugu-based journalist. Recently, he had some health challenges regarding his heart. He was treated at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ituku/Ozalla. Okafor in this piece narrated his experience at the UNTH.

    He volunteered to make his experience public as a response to some newspaper publications, particularly by a columnist with a national daily who wrote that UNTH lacked most basic facilities “that are found even at the small private clinics elsewhere.”

    Okafor said: “After reading the article, I wondered if the excellent medical services and equipment at UNTH where I underwent open heart surgery in March last year had become so bad by September as the article tried to paint. I am not holding the fort for UNTH or trying to say that there are no minor lapses at UNTH which operates within the Nigerian environment.  Continuing, he said: “As a beneficiary of UNTH’s good medical services and equipment at the highest level (open heart surgery), I think it is necessary for me to let Nigerians know that UNTH is quite on track as National Cardiothoracic Centre of Excellence. And this is what necessitated this rejoinder to Mr. Ezechukwu’s article.

    “In February this year, I woke up one morning and discovered that my breathing was not normal as my heart was beating faster and louder. I went to UNTH; Ituku/Ozalla to know what has gone wrong with me.

    “On arrival at UNTH, I met an efficient workforce. After the necessary protocol of registration and obtaining a card, the doctor I met at the General Out-Patient Department (GOPD) referred me to the Clinical Measurement Unit for echo and ECG examinations.

    At the hospital’s echo room, I met a highly dedicated cardiologist, Dr. Emmanuel Ejim, who attended to me efficiently. And through the accurate and sophisticated echo machine at the hospital, it was discovered that I had a tumour (growth) inside one of my heart chambers (left atrium). The tumour is called myxoma. According to the doctor, it was like a time bomb waiting to explode since it could occlude the mitral valve or cause stroke or sudden death without notice.

    “The only treatment, according to the doctor, was surgical removal of the tumour. So, I was asked to go for heart surgery. Luckily for me, UNTH is the only hospital doing open heart surgery in Nigeria.

    “I was admitted for the open heart surgery on March 13, last year. 1 had no choice of ward where I would stay for my heart surgery but I was given a suite at the hospital private suites and this was where I stayed till I was discharged from the hospital on March 27, 2013 after a successful surgery.

    “While I was in the hospital being prepared for the open heart surgery, the doctors, nurses and other medical personnel that had anything to do with me took very good care of me so much so that I had to direct my younger brother, Akachukwu who came to stay with me in the hospital to go home.”

    Mr. Okafor while he was in the hospital, he was in good hands and was treated like a king to the extent that the hospital dieticians took record of his choice of food. His private suite had everything to make him comfortable, even as he said there was a refrigerator, a plasma cable television, an air conditioner and a ceiling fan. The windows and doors had mosquito nets while there was a big electricity generating set that supplied light to the hospital anytime there was public power outage.

    “While I was being prepared for the surgery, the consultants, doctors and nurses attended to me as and when due. The porters were ever ready to go on errands for me; hence there was no need for any of my relations to stay with me.

    “One week after I was admitted in the hospital, doctors confirmed that I was fit for the surgery both mentally and physically.

    So, on March 20, 2013, I was wheeled into the ultra-modern cardiothoracic theatre.

    “The cardiothoracic theatre at UNTH Ituku/Ozalla has state-of-the-art equipment that can compare with the best in the world. A visit to the theatre is like a visit to the best heart hospitals in Europe or America.

    “With the help of God Almighty, the UNTH Consultants, doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists and physiotherapists who displayed rare professionalism successfully carried out open heart surgery on me on March 20, 2013.

    He said: “After the surgery, I was wheeled into Thoracic Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital. The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of UNTH, Dr. Chris Amah came personally to congratulate me on the successful heart surgery.

    “At the ICU, 1 was treated like a newly born baby as the doctors and nurses handled me like a fragile object. The physiotherapists were very much on hand to teach me how to walk again.

    I will like to say here that with the help of God, the quality of care and medication I received at the ICU helped me to recover very quickly. My recovery was very rapid so much so that after four days of the surgery, I was moved back to the private suite.”

    He said the nurses and other hospital personnel at the private suites celebrated his comeback to the ward as shouts of Alleluia and praise God rented the air. The Matron of the private suites was so excited that she embraced him while dancing, waving hands and thanking God for his successful surgery.

    Mr. Okafor noted that since his recovery was very rapid, on March 27, 2013, two days after he came back to the private ward, a consultant, Dr. O. C. Nzewi came to his suite and after examining him, declared him fit to go home after signing his discharge papers.

    As he prepared to go home, Mr. Okafor said he felt nostalgic as he felt he was already missing good friends. The nurses on duty gathered to wish him well. As they waved at him, they asked him to always say hello to them anytime he goes there for his health checks.