The Chief Medical Director, CMD, of Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, AEFUTHA, Prof. Robinson Onoh has commended Governor Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru of Ebonyi State, for creating an enabling environment for the growth and advancement of the health sector in the State.
He added that the present administration’s commitment in the sector has significantly strengthened institutions like AEFUTHA, which has made a notable milestone such as the execution of 100 plus successful cleft surgeries without any recorded mortality.
According to him, today is not just celebration of numbers but a celebration of lives transformed, hope restored, and smiles rekindled. We are grateful to God and to all our partners for making this possible
“As a foremost tertiary health institution, our hospital has continued toIi stand as a mega referral centre, providing specialised and quality healthcare services to the people of Ebonyi State, the South East region and indeed Nigerians at large in areas like In Vitro Fertilisation with a recorded 28 births in the past one year, Neurosurgery, Endoscopy and Laparoscopy services” he added.
The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of AEFUTHA expressed delight at the new theatre saying: “In addition to providing world-class standards of care using the new equipment, the new theatre is motivating teams to carry out more surgeries with a refreshed frame of mind. We anticipate having more children receiving surgeries.
“Smile Train and Kids Operating Room continue to build surgical and anaesthesia capacity to reach patients in the last mile. Since 2020, Smile Train and Kids Operating Room have renovated 31 paediatric operating rooms in 21 African countries.
“The Smile Train-KidsOR collaboration has also partnered with the College of Surgeons of West Africa (WACS) and the College of Surgeons of Eastern, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA), to provide a paediatric surgical fellowship for the training and education of 45 paediatric surgeons across Africa.” He concluded.
Prof. Onoh stated this during the unveiling of a Paediatric theatre that has been renovated by Global Charities Smile Train and Kids Operating Room (KidsOR) at the hospital complex in Abakaliki.
Thousands of children are expected to benefit from the state-of-the-art Operating Room, which has been outfitted with equipment tailored for pediatric surgical care.
Daily Times gathered that AEFUTH is the eighth operating room that has been renovated by the Smile Train-KidsOR partnership in Nigeria.
Speaking at the unveiling ceremony, Smile Train Program Assistant Adaeze Muonyelu acknowledged that the philanthropic act by Smile Train in partnership with KidsOR will greatly improve access to both elective and emergency operations in AEFUTHA, thereby reducing morbidities and mortalities from delays in emergency surgery and long waits for elective surgery.
“The provision of a dedicated theatre for paediatric patients is highly commendable in many respects, especially in Ebonyi where the available operating facilities are grossly inadequate to cater to the large population.
“Smile Train is focused on strengthening public health systems through our sustainable partnership model.
“Supporting AEFUTH in this renovation will increase their capacity and elevate the quality of care for children across the state. We remain committed to boosting the capacity of local healthcare professionals while prioritizing children in receiving safe, quality, and timely surgery and anaesthesia care.”
David Cunningham, Managing Director of Kids Operating Room, added: “Over the years of collaborating with Smile Train, our greatest impact is in leveraging technology to elevate surgical services reaching the most vulnerable in under-resourced countries. We believe that having a dedicated children’s operating theatre in the country, will create a brighter and healthier future for the children living here.”
AEFUTHA, which serves over 4.4 million people in Ebonyi State has a 72 pediatric bed capacity and has treated over 100 patients with clefts since 2014.
The wife of the Governor, Mrs. Mary Maudline Uzoamaka Nwifuru who was represented by the State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Barrister Felicia Nwankpuma called on the media and the general public to publicise the ongoing free surgeries of cleft lip and palate at AEFUTHA.
“I never knew about this success story. I want to appreciate the government, CMD, Smile Train’ and others for this success stories.” She added.
In his goodwill message, rhe National President, National Association of Lip and Palate, Prof. Nnadozie Ogochukwu described the act of taking care of children with cleft lip and palate as a compassionate care and called for the involvement of all and sundry, so that children with such medical condition could get help without any form of delay.
“A lot of children are still being sacrificed because of their health condition. It takes commitment, leadership and dedication to make sure that no child is lost. We are in the lead of cleft care in rhe country.”
Also, the Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Ebonyi State, Chief Ikeowa Omebeh said the media will collaborate with AEFUTHA, to ensure that adequate publicity of the ongoing free surgeries provided by the hospital get to different parts of the State.