With pomp and ceremony, the founders of the first wholly private medical university in Nigeria, PAMO University of Medical Sciences, recently unveiled PAMO University Hospital. The hospital is a well-equipped 250-bed integrated hospital that will not only provide purpose-built multispecialty, tertiary care private hospital but go a long way in reducing and curbing medical tourism and brain drain in Nigeria, writes Blessing Ibunge
Another great history was made in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, last week when the founders of PAMO University of Medical Sciences (PUMS) unveiled a well-equipped 250-bed integrated hospital, PAMO University Hospital.
The hospital, which was inaugurated by former Governor Nyesom Wike, is a purpose-built multis-pecialty, tertiary care private hospital. It will offer patient care services across a range of medical and surgical specialties, aiming to deliver high-quality, and yet accessible healthcare to communities in Rivers, neighbouring states and Nigeria at large.
The hospital will also provide high-quality medical treatment in the area of internal medicine, family medicine, surgery, obstetrics, gynaecology and paediatrics to individuals, families and corporate organisations.
The founder of PAMO Educational Foundation and Pro-Chancellor of PUMS, Dr. Peter Odili, and his wife Justice Mary Odili are known for their ability to draw the cream of society with any occasion. The unveiling was no different as it attracted many eminent personalities in the public and private sectors. Also in attendance were lawyers and judges, especially former Justices of the Supreme Court. Traditional rulers and clergies too made appearances.
Odili’s daughter, Dr. Adaeze Oreh, who is also a member of the Governing Council of PUMS, remarked that PAMO University Hospital aims to deliver medical excellence, incorporate global standards of quality service, and provide exceptional patient care through improved medical outcomes and high-quality nursing care.
She added that the siting of the hospital ensures that it is in a strategic location to provide critical, life-saving emergency medical and surgical services to victims of road traffic accidents on the interstate expressway.
Dr. Oreh equally noted that as quality is fundamental to PAMO University Hospital’s healthcare mission, a robust clinical governance system would be in place to ensure continuous quality improvement and adherence to international standards for ethics and compliance.
According to her, for over four decades, PAMO Clinics and Hospitals Group has provided quality medical and healthcare services for hundreds of thousands of Nigerians.
She concluded by appreciating Wike for all the assistance to the university since it was established over five years ago.
Virtually everybody who witnessed the inauguration ceremony of the gigantic and magnificent hospital, commended Odili for the massive investment, saying that it would help a great deal in reducing and curbing medical tourism and brain drain.
For instance, the chairman of the occasion and former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Umaru Abdullahi, said the unveiling of the hospital signified the consolidation of the giant stride taken by PAMO University in positioning the training of topnotch medical personnel in the country.
According to him, “The establishment of the tertiary hospital could not have come at a better time than now in the light of medical tourism and the exodus of medical practitioners out of the country.”
He, therefore, called for adequate maintenance of the facilities provided at the facility, not just for a quick recovery but for a lasting recovery. He also urged doctors and other medical personnel at the facility to always have the welfare of their patients in mind.
The President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Dr. Uche Ojinmah, said the hospital has partly solved the problem of spaces and house jobs which he said has been one of the major challenges facing the sector. He expressed hope that the medical personnel produced in the institution will not be for export.
Ojinmah added that with the coming on board of PAMO University Hospital, the number of qualified doctors in Nigeria would soar.
The Executive Secretary of Medical and Dental Clinical of Nigeria, Dr Tajudeen Sanusi, said with the kind of facility and equipment the new hospital parades, doctors would no longer have excuses to travel out of the country for lack of equipment. He said he was happy that PAMO University was able to implement the guides the council provided in its process of giant achievements.
On his part, Wike, who was the special guest of honour at the event, commended the former state governor, Dr. Odili for his investment and development in the state, especially in the health sector. He commended Odili for putting his retirement to good use and committing himself to the service of humanity.
He said in its five years of establishment; from 2018 till date, PAMO University of Medical Sciences has been celebrated because of the quality of students it has groomed already, and the satisfying growth it has witnessed.
“I want to thank Dr. Peter Odili, having finished as governor of the state for eight years, he didn’t go to Abuja to stay and find a pressure group to join as a former member or former governor forum, no. He said ‘I am not tired to serve humanity,” said Wike.
“PAMO University started in 2018, we are now in 2023, talking about opening a Teaching Hospital of that university, just in five years. And look at commendations of the National Universities Commission, by the Medical and Dental Council, in just five years. It is impressive.
“In the next 10 years, as far as medicine is concerned, you will see that Rivers State will be a hub for exporting doctors to those states that do not have them. So in order to protect ourselves, I now came up with the policy which I have told the governor-elect, it is better they sign an agreement with us that they are going to work for Rivers State government for some number of years so that we don’t lose out. I am proud to say that I am associated with this beautiful, great project,” Wike added.
In his remark, Dr. Odili described Wike as the best governor Rivers has ever produced. He named the hospital complex after the former governor, commending him for the numerous support to the health sector in the state.
A highly elated Dr. Odili said the PAMO University Hospital is designed to be accessible to the poor in society and that the centre would be known for having staff that will treat their patients like their employers.
He said: “This complex will be called Chief (Barr) Nyesom Ezenwo Wike Complex. This will be the destination of hope and survival for sick people that will need the services here. This centre will be known for having staff that will treat their patients like their employers. Without patients, doctors and nurses have no work. So every patient, no matter how poor, will be treated as an employer with compassion, dignity and respect. Poverty will not be a hindrance or access to the centre.
“For the staff, this will be the most attractive place to go and look for work. The environment will provide services that are attractive and competitive. God started this project; God will see to its conclusion. Our governor has done what is not imaginable, only God can pay him back. But what we promise you, your Excellency, is that you will continue to hear good stories about PAMO University Hospital and because your name is tied to it for eternity, that will be our humble way of appreciating you.”
Even though PAMO University Hospital would be run separately, it is was established to complement and consolidate PUMS.
Nestled in a serene environment in Rivers State, PUMS commenced in 2018 and is dedicated to building healthcare workers, including medical doctors, nurses and other allied courses in the country. Well-equipped and furnished to world standard, the university has been playing a key role in nation-building by moulding the teeming youth population through its teaching, research and community services.
The full accreditation of the school’s courses and programmes by medical and health professional bodies including the National Universities Commission (NUC), Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN), Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN), and Radiographers Registration Board of Nigeria (RRBN), among others, has turned it to a first choice for parents who want their children to have not just sound medical education but to graduate in record time.
Before the coming board of the newly well-equipped and furnished 250-bed integrated hospital, PUMS used to have PAMO Clinics and Hospitals Group established in the 1980s by Dr. Odili, who is a renowned medical doctor. It is also a well-equipped and renowned hospital that used to serve families and corporate organisations spanning sectors such as energy, oil and gas, power, agriculture and construction.
Besides, the school had a memorandum of understanding with the Rivers State government and State University Teaching Hospital which its students visited for clinical training.
Thus, students have been gaining medical knowledge and experience from early stages, unlike other universities where students are not exposed to hospital experience until they are at the 400 level.
Since its establishment, the university has not only maintained its very high standards which it started with but has ensured that all the promises of infrastructure – basic and educational – are top-notch. Known for its unrivalled level of discipline and quality of learning, PUMS remains one of the best universities in the field of medical education in the country.
Currently, PUMS ranks as Nigeria’s number one university in the NUC’s Female Enrolment Index. In a recent ranking of Nigerian universities by the NUC, PUMS ranks 35 out of the 200 universities in Nigeria, a feat achieved in just under four years of its existence.
PUMS also ranks number one in for 100 per cent full accreditation of its programmes by the NUC, MDCN, NMCN, MLSCN, and RRBN.
At the last Nursing Council examinations in the university, the school recorded a 100 per cent pass rate, and a 95 per cent pass rate in the last Medicine and Surgery professional MBBS examinations with several distinctions recorded.
Its third convocation ceremony will be held in December 2023, when it will award pioneer degrees in Medicine and Surgery in addition to other bachelor’s degrees.
