Expdonaloaded News; How Christian hospitals sustain Nigeria’s health sector

Soon, Sacred Heart Hospital, Abeokuta, Ogun State, believed to be the oldest health facility in Nigeria, will clock120 years. The foremost health facility was established in Egbaland in those days by white missionaries of the Catholic persuasion, and ever since, the facility has stood out as a beacon of hope to the Nigerian health sector.
Many who frequent the hospital and can attest to this are happy that it has unrelentlessly cared and catered for many generations of Nigerians, a role its proprietors: the Catholic Church and by extension the Christian Health Association of Nigeria (CHAN) count as a mission fulfilled.
Recently, CHAN members from its headquarters in Jos, Plateau State and others from Zone D comprising Delta, Edo, Lagos, Ogun Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti states converged on Sacred Heart Hospital in Lantoro, to examine how several hundreds of hospitals in their care had fared in the past months.
Expdonaloaded blog was told that every now and then, CHAN members converge to compare notes – an effort that leads them to ascertain that their hospitals are running with clear cut objectives of their founding fathers which centre on ensuring that the poor benefit from healthcare services at affordable cost. They say that is the cutting edge their facilities have over and above government and most private health institution across the country – an advantage that draws many to their facilities in search of healthcare services.
The CHAN gathering, which is called the health tribunal, has a semblance of a court in session in the extent that it has a tribunal judge, assisted by some panelists. The judge returns a verdict on CHAN’s performance over the months and even beams the searchlight on government’s involvement in the health sector within the period under review.post by expdonaloaded.blogspot.com..The Abeokuta event was guided by Venerable Dr Akin Akinyemi, a former Secretary General of CHAN who manages a health facility in Ibadan, Oyo State. Looking as fiery as a judge in court, his verdict was as damning as it could be.
The session, however, was as tense as it could be. It also packed some fun and excitement. In attendance were the Catholic Bishop of Abeokuta Diocese, Most Rev Dr Peter Odetoyinbo; CHAN’s Secretary General, Dr Daniel Gobgab; Director of Communications, Mr. David Omoroebokhae and Dr Fatungase Kehinde, Executive Director, Ogun State Agency for the Control of AIDS. Also present were Dr Daniel Adedosu, Bowen University Teaching Hospital, Ogbomosho, who is the Chairman, CHAN, Zone D; Dr Martin Ogundeji, Chairman, CHAN, Oyo State and representatives of various states within the zone.
The event was opened by the CHAN leader, Dr Gobgab. Suddenly, it switched and gradually drifted to a note of pain and melancholy when the scribe intimated the house about the fate of two of his staff still languishing in kidnapers’ den in Gombe, Gombe State. The men, he informed, staked their lives when they hit the road to deliver drugs in a remote area of the state – in keeping with CHAN’s avowed policy of reaching the unreached. They were then kidnapped while the van they were riding in was forcefully taken away. And till this moment, nothing substantial has been heard concerning their whereabouts. He called for calm and prayers so that the men would regain their freedom soon.
Gradually, the session refocused on the business of the day, as the party geared to listen to the presentations of representatives of Delta, Edo, Oyo, Ogun and Lagos States.
Taking the first shot was Rev Sr. Eromosele of St Joseph’s Hospital Asaba, Delta State, which was established in 1934. Taking her listeners through the hospital’s performance in 2014, she disclosed that the facility recorded 24,228 patients in the Out-Patient Department (OPD), admitted 1,501, handled 8,030 old cases and recorded just three deaths. She said the hospitals screened 2,298 patients for HIV AIDS.
In his presentation, Rev Benard Obajeh, the Head of Department, Chaplaincy Department of Faith Mediplex Hospital, Benin City, told his listeners that “the vision of the hospital is combining payers and medicine to heal the whole person – spirit, mind and body.”  He disclosed that the hospital, as at March this year, now has two more braches in Abuja and Uyo, Akwa Ibom State in addition to its headquarters in Benin City.
At the moment, the Benin hospital has 218 beds, 26 doctors, 108 nurses and four laboratory scientists. The hospitals render services in the areas of accident and emergency, pediatrics and neonatology, dentistry, dermatology, ear, nose and throat, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, HIV/AIDS relief and mortuary and ambulance services.
He stated: “Government benefits from our facility through regular tax remittance; we provide immunization and healthcare services to Edo State citizens and beyond, regular monthly and quarterly data and statistics.” On the other hand, “the hospital benefits from government’s free anti retroviral drugs, free ant TB drugs, free vaccines where it is available.” He, however, urged the Edo State government to pass into law, a budgetary provision for subvention to assist all mission hospitals in their effort to deliver better healthcare services to the citizenry.post by expdonaloaded.blogspot.com..Making an impromptu presentation on behalf of Rev Fr. Simeon, the Administrator of Sacred Heart Hospital, Rev Fr Christopher Ogunupebi of Ijebu-ode Diocese disclosed that Ogun State had a population of three million people. Out of the number, 728,098 people accessed mission hospitals in the state in 2015. “If our facilities attend to this number, it then means that we are taking care of 30 per cent of the populace in the state,” he noted.
He stated that mission hospitals also screened 735,000 primary and secondary school students of various eye diseases during the period. He said Sacred Heart Hospital in particular attended to 66,633 patients, took 2,830 deliveries and performed 1,629 surgeries. He disclosed that the mission hospitals in the state were committed to improving on their performance of last year if only they would receive improved government support.
Similar presentations were made by representatives of other states in attendance.
After listening to the presentations and comments of the attendees, the tribunal judge, Dr Akinyemi, commended all and sundry fro their untiring efforts. He particularly commended representatives of Edo and Delta states for their efforts in taking care of children with HIV/AIDS. He enjoined all mission hospitals across the country to rededicate themselves to the services of humanity irrespective of the challenges there are.
Then, playing the role of the judge, he brought down his gavel as he delivered his judgment on three counts. “That government has not done enough to help faith-based hospitals to reach the unreached in the society; that mission hospitals have been doing enough to compliment the effort of the government to sustain the health sector but needed to do more, and that mission hospitals still needed to develop and expand appropriate strategies to get government to listen and acknowledge that it has a reliable partner in Christian hospitals which it has long neglected.”
In his comments, the chairman of Zone D, Dr Adedosu said: “The thrust of the tribunal is to showcase what we have been doing in CHAN, that is, in all the Christian hospitals across the nation. We are trying to reach out to people in government and ask them to show understanding and support to what we are doing.” He said CHAN wanted all and sundry to see the enormity of the contribution of Christian hospitals to the healthcare delivery system of the country.