Emmanuel Ugwu, Umuahia
Abians in the Diaspora have called for improved management of patients in intensive care units, saying that provision of good health facilities and modern equipment would engender health services of international standard and end avoidable loss of lives.
To this end, the Umuahia Union in Washington DC, United States has donated a state-of- the- art intensive care equipment to the Abia State Specialist Hospital, Amachara to make its intensive care unit better equipped.
The brand new equipment, which was presented to the hospital management by a delegation of the union, include a bed, monitor, two suction machines and two oxygen concentrator machines.
Leader of the delegation, Chimaroke Nwosu said the ICU equipment has the ingredients required for effective medical care of patients in intensive care.
Nwosu said the medical equipment is functional and would be used to save lives and extend the lives of patients in need of intensive care, noting that the equipment were of the same standard as what obtains in developed nations.
“What we are doing is to extend the lives of patients that may be in need (of intensive care). Absence of medical facilities had in the past led to the death of patients hence the decision of the Umuahia Union in Washington to intervene by donating the ICU equipment.”
Commissioner for Health, Abia State, Dr. John Ahukanna, who received the equipment, expressed gratitude to the diaspora Abians for the donation, adding that they have demonstrated that they were concerned with the happenings in their home state and wants to contribute their efforts to making things better.
He said “Abians in diaspora have been very supportive especially in the health sector. The World health organisation (WHO) has already acknowledged the modest achievements recorded in Abia health sector,” he added.
According to the commissioner, the brand new state of the equipment donated by the Umuahia Union in Washington was a break from the past where Diasporas “just bring any kind of equipment” home regardless of its condition and relevance to health care services.
He said the ICU facility would further enhance the status of the specialist hospital at Amachara as a tertiary health facility, adding that three years ago the health facility was just a specialist hospital in name, but today the situation has changed for the better.
Ahukanna said that the specialist hospital has continued to witness massive upgrading of facilities as it has been designated a kidney transplant centre in Abia which in due course would engender medical tourism in the state.
He also disclosed that Gregory University Uturu, a private tertiary institution has adopted the Amachara Specialist Hospital as its teaching hospital and called for more help in for the improvement of health care facilities in Abia State.
The Chief Medical Director of Amachara Specialist Hospital, Dr Uwadinachi Iweha told THISDAY that the ICU equipment was life saving.
He said the equipment were not meant for decorations, hence the hospital would effectively use them to save lives, while more ICU nurses would be trained in this specialised area of medical care in order to provide adequate manpower in the intensive care unit of the hospital.
