The Medical Director,Federal Medical Centre(FMC), Umuahia, Prof. Azubuike Onyebuchi, has expressed profound gratitude to President Muhammadu Buhari for the huge investment in infrastructure development in the hospital.
Onyebuchi made the remark during the end-of-year get-together and thanksgiving prayer session organised by the management of the facility.
He said, “I thank the President for insisting that funds for capital development must be released 100 per cent.
“This explains why we have the massive capital projects in FMC, Umuahia and the environment looking clean.”
Onyebuchi listed the projects already completed to include the 30-room two-storey building House Officers’ Quarters, new Invitro fertilisation building and Newborn Special Intensive Care Unit.
Others were the new Staff Office Complex, new Administrative Block, housing the Medical Directors’ Office, and a new building with suites as call rooms for healthcare professionals.
The rest were the Nursing Services Division building, 10-bedded Intensive Care Unit and a modern molecular laboratory.
Onyebuchi also said that the Federal Government asphalted a 4km internal road in the hospital.
“These are completed projects, while numerous others scattered all over the hospital are still ongoing,” he said.
“I also thank Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu for building a one-km road inside the centre,” Onyebuchi said.
He further commended the Federal Ministry of Health and its Board “for being supportive of the good things happening at the hospital”.
He thanked Sen. Theodore Orji, representing Abia Central, for assisting the centre through his Constituency Project Funds to build a multi-purpose hall at the centre.
He also lauded CONNAK Foundation for building a recreation park in the hospital.
He thanked other well-meaning individuals for intervening in the payment of bills for indigent patients.
According to Onyebuchi, a traditional ruler, who chose to be anonymous, defrayed hospital bills of indigent patients, totalling about N2 million, shortly before the event commenced.
He said that the hospital was struggling with huge electricity bills, pointing out that its December bill amounted to N10 million.
He said that management was exploring ways to cut down on administrative cost.
OnyebuchWi said that the issues of workers’ conversion was being considered, in order to motivate the affected persons.
“I don’t want people to feel cheated,” he said.
He also said that he had concluded plans to introduce reward for staff that exhibited sincerity and commitment during the year.
He further promised to re-introduce quarterly meeting between the management and staff members “to review the hospital performance and take advice on the ways things are done.”
Onyebuchi, however, warned frontline staff members over their poor attitude to patients, which he described as worrisome.
He said that such attitude had become scandalous, embarrassing and intolerable and must stop. He said that most times, patients at the Accident and Emergency Unit were made to become jittery and panicky.
He, therefore, called for a change of attitude, pointing out that every patient should be shown empathy.
In a brief exhortation, the hospital Chaplain, Rt. Rev. Kalu Okoroafor, spoke on the need for people to be grateful to God for His protection and guidance.