Uduaghan: The limbo Is Over In Delta’s Health Sector

         

 For residents of Delta State, one of the key areas of their overall wellbeing has been healthcare delivery. Before the advent of the Emmanuel Uduaghan-led administration, hospitals and allied infrastructure were in limbo. VERA ONANA reports the transformation that the hospitals in the state have undergone.

For indigenes and residents of Delta state, the revamp of Eku hospital is the manifestation of a long awaited dream, which is an epoch in the medical history of the state. Indigenes and residents, as well as neighbouring communities, have been filled with profound gratitude to the government of the state, under the administration of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, for this giant stride. This transformation was no easy feat and its accomplishment can be likened to the taste of fresh wine on the lips of the people, who are indeed drunk with appreciation.

Going down the memory lane, Eku Baptist Hospital was established as a dispensary in 1945 and transformed into a full hospital in 1950. History, however, has it that the hospital was established by a missionary couple, Rev. Dr. E. Milford Howell and Eleanor Katherine Howell.

Mrs Howell, after the birth of her daughter, was said to have begun a medical clinic in a one-room mud hut to cater for their new converts, shortly after their missionary sojourn to Eku village from America, but that little clinic can be likened to the proverbial tiny mustard seed and it has blossomed into an edifice decades after it was sown.

This makeover, however, was not achieved by a cinch. The Eku hospital had inevitably faced several turbulent storms in its history but these raging storms that contended with the development of the Eku hospital were laid to rest on an auspicious day, half a decade ago, when after emerging governor of Delta state, with his brilliant competence as a medical doctor, Uduaghan took over the mission hospital and commenced its long walk to rejuvenation.

He didn’t stop at that, for a new lease of life was simultaneously swiftly given the community and salary arrears owed reinstated runaway workers were paid while fresh hands were also added to the workforce. Commemorated with an overhaul of the old structures which began with no less than N2 billion that was sunk into the hospital to upgrade the facility to modern taste. Consequently, the hospital was renamed Eku Baptist Government Hospital to reflect the input of the government.

Today, the Eku Baptist Government Hospital can be without a scintilla of doubt regarded as a father’s pride and the delight of the children. In admiration of the government, Dr Patrick Ofili said “the patients, the staff and Delta state as a whole is pleased to be in a modern facility. Everybody is talking about it. I feel really happy and proud working here.”

The hospital is an ideal environment for healing and this has been made possible by not just the state of the earth medical equipment that has been put in place but also as a result of the highly trained and competent doctors, nurses and health workers that constitute its members of staff.
The Medical Director of the hospital, Dr W. O. Odunvbun, during the inauguration, said the hospital boasted of ultra modern accident and emergency complex and a modern refrigeration mortuary. The state-of-art equipment sunk in the hospital included 16 Slice CT Scan, Ultra Modern Dental Unit and laboratory equipment, among others.
In terms of manpower, as of May 31, 2014, the hospital could boast of two consultants, two resident doctors, three medical officers/dental officers, two corps member doctors, 44 nurses, 49 health assistants, four pharmacists including two corps members, seven medical laboratory scientists including four corps members and one radiographer, among other administrative staff.
Other facilities made available in the hospital included 150 bed spaces made up of maternity ward, male and female wards, pediatrics and private wards as well as an additional 20 bed spaces in the new Accident and Emergency complex.
In Delta state today, infant and mortality rate has drastically reduced and the reason is simple, the new medical facilities that have been put in place in synergy with the competent hands of the health workers has been ensuring safe deliveries. In fact, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, while inaugurating the rebuilt and re-equipped hospital on May 31, said: “If you died in Eku Baptist Hospital those days, it meant you were actually meant to die.”
It is vehemently veracious that health is wealth and for this reason, the holy writ makes it explicit that the creator wishes that above everything else, mortals be in good health. Governor Uduaghan has reflected the mind of the creator and manifested his will in Delta state. One can say evidently say that Deltans, are the wealthiest people in Nigeria today.

Nigerian Tribune