Reps Health Committee Chairman commends UMTH CMD for repositioning the hospital
By Mohammed Kaka Misau
The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Health Institutions, Amos Magaji, has commended the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), Professor Ahmed Ahidjo, and the entire management team for repositioning the federal government tertiary health institution.
Honourable Magaji, who was at the hospital recently on an on-the-spot assessment visit following the devastating flood, which caused serious havoc in Maiduguri, including the hospital, also pledged to work towards reversing the culture of embarking on medical tourism abroad by Nigerians.
He said that the billions of naira Nigerians spend abroad on medical care should be domesticated in Nigeria to improve the health sector in the country.
“When we came into the 10th Assembly, our goal was to reduce medical tourism or to reverse it rather, making sure that instead of Nigerians going out of the country for medical tourism, people should be calling from other countries,” he said.
The lawmakers reiterated that the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital needs urgent attention and that the House will call on the federal government for urgent intervention so that it can begin operating fully.
Magaji who disclosed that the lower chamber of the legislature is working to improve infrastructure and equipment in the hospitals, explained that if medical tourism is reversed, the country’s hospitals and tertiary health institutions would not only look like the University of Maiduguri Hospital, but all the tertiary health facilities need to look like health institutions.
The house committee chairman, who lamented the cost of hospital equipment owing to the Naira-Dollar, said the equipment, which previously cost N1 billion, cannot currently be obtained for N4 billion.
Mr Magaji said that the issue at stake is a huge responsibility and pointed out that the legislature is already giving matching orders to institutions that any equipment procured must have at least a three—to five-year maintenance agreement with the manufacturers.
According to him, the hospital workers must be trained as well as ensure that all critical medical equipment must be insured.
“What has happened here has underscored what has happened with equipment in all our hospitals. This is one thing we are going back again to ensure that it is done,” Mr Magaji said.
The lawmaker commended the efforts of the CMD Ahmed Ahidjo, and his team for repositioning the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.
“The CMD was telling me how people from different parts of Nigeria come here and, of course, other African countries seek medical care here; this is the goal of the house committee,” he said.
