OBIANO’s 13 DOCTORS: The Salvage Of Battered Minds From The Brink — By Ifeanyichukwu Afuba

By Ifeanyichukwu Afuba

In a letter to Nigerians in the heat of the coronavirus pandemic in April 2020, His Eminence, Anthony Cardinal Okogie, admonished the country’s political leaders to see the crisis as both an alert and opportunity to upgrade public healthcare. ‘lf we do not do something positive about our hospitals in Nigeria, if we do not invest in medical research, we shall one day find ourselves in a situation where we cannot even board a flight out of Nigeria to go on medical tourism’ the eminent citizen warned. Okogie’s observation while generally true of the Nigerian situation, recalls the sorry fate of Anambra State University medical students; and mercifully, the bold intervention that saved their aspiration to become doctors from crashing.

The training programme of the the Anambra State University’s Faculty of Medicine ran into hitches in 2009, three years after commencement. The bottom-line, as it turned out, was poor funding of the course requirements by the State Government under the Peter Obi administration.

Immediate past chief Medical Director of the university’s teaching hospital, Dr Lawrence Ikeako, quoted by The Guardian (Jan 7, 2016) said the medical students “went through agonising moments due to accreditation rigours that the institution passed through since 2009.”

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The Faculty had failed several accreditation inspections of the National Universities Commission and the Medical & Dental Council of Nigeria. This was for acute lack of prescribed facilities and qualified manpower to run doctors’ training programme.

At the time, the university did not have enough classroom blocks and the Faculty of Medicine was not spared of the deprivation. Lectures were delayed and occasionally missed for want of free classrooms. Sometimes, the instruction took place under the shade of trees.

The depressing learning circumstances soon took its toll on the programme. Doubts crept on this set of 60 pioneers. Students’ confidence was thoroughly shaken when some of the lecturers counseled that they (students) consider other alternatives in the face of the prevailing uncertainty. And the exodus started. Some opted for other courses of study in the university while some took a walk from the university itself.

Of the 13 who stayed back out of the initial class of 60, it was a long nerve – wracking wait in limbo. But rays of hope finally appeared with the advent of the Willie Obiano administration in March 2014. The administration’s manifest emphasis on reinvigorating institutions and attaining due standards held out promise of salvage action – which the students latched on to. They were not disappointed. Governor Willie Obiano directed immediate and concerted action, matched with release of funds, to meet the accreditation requirements.

Finally parading the requisite complement of experts and facilities, the College of Medicine could now lead the students with assurance. The long – awaited approval came and in January 2016, the surviving 13 students graduated after 10 years of study. An elated and considerate Governor Willie Obiano granted them automatic employment.

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The graduation of pioneer doctors of the state university was further significant coming in the second year of the Willie Obiano government. The administration had taken off on difficult ground having inherited N9b cash; N35b worth investments and a crushing N127b debt from the Peter Obi administration.

Development has continued at the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu Teaching Hospital, Awka. In the past two years, the Obiano administration has released over N2b to the institution for greater performance. In August 2019, the teaching hospital came into reckoning with the unveiling of its oxygen plant, the first of its kind in the southeast. Following an upgrade of its power system, the teaching hospital presently enjoys 18 hours of electricity a day.

Afuba is editor of Anambra Times.