Health
LUTH: How lack of communication is hampering operational activities

LUTH: How lack of communication is hampering operational activities
By: James Bwala
Management is management they said, so workers often do not understand because certain communitions are kept only at the management level. However, while it should be certain communitions, there is the need for managers to make a difference and ensure needful communitions are made available to both clients and staff. In an institution like the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), the need to explain certain occasions both to staff and patients should be of paramount.
While investigating a case recently, NEWSng understands that patients at LUTH are worried with the cash method of payment for medical Services for example. According to the explanation, when they gets to the point of payment LUTH cashier will insist of making cash payment as against government policy of paying through electonic means.
This concern gave the inroad to contact some member of staff, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as regarding what they know. They informed that they are also worried about the new development and why LUTH will insist on paying cash to the cashier and every Tuesday, they see bullion van coming to take huge amount of money to the banks. According to them this is a security issue as carrying such huge amount may attract certain challenges and why should an institution like LUTH change the government policy of electronic payments?
In thier different concerns, they suggested that financial regulatory agencies needs to look into this novel activities in LUTH. The staff shared a story about over deduction in their salary and wanted to know if LUTH have returns all deducted funds to ippis or CBN? They also suggested the need to ask ARD executive at LUTH about the method of cash payment for service as against Federal Government directive of e-money collections.
When NEWSng attempted to get the Director of Finance at LUTH into discussing certain findings, which involves the finance activities, Mr. Tajudeen Ibrahim after a long while responded that he was not allowed to speak to the Press. That however, sounded like something is amiss. On another questions that has to do with non payment of salaries for nine months, hazard and MRFT allowances of some Residents Doctors, he suggested the Director of Administration is in position to answer that.

NEWSng in its findings learnt that for nine months, residents doctors at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital has not been paid salaries and other allowances. According to some doctors, yet the system espects them to remain focus and work for the health of the society.
“They tell us that we are doctors, forgetting that we are also humans. The administration of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH for some reason could not justify their actions over many scary stories emanating from the hospital from maladministration to deaths mounting as a result of lack of care and the welfare of staff especially doctors which the establishment of such an Institution hangs on.
“Several Resident Doctors have left. Many are now reporting the difference between working at the home front and working in distant country where they are being treated as Angels. Recently, the number of doctors said to have been putting resignation and living the services of LUTH has been alarming. Several of them have given reasons to ill treatment by the management of the hospital.” One of the Doctors, who did not want his name in print said.
Also speaking, another doctor who resign from the services of LUTH told NEWSng that although they (doctors) are living the services of the hospital on various grounds, the crux which informed their living was imbedded in the lack of payment of the salaries in the last nine months. The doctor also mention other allowances like Hazard and MRTF, which only the management can explained. However, a note pushed on the course of this investigation may have giving an inroad to the business of withholding the doctor’s salaries when a mention of fixing the money for interest in banks becomes of concern. This is what the director of finance at LUTH should explained.
” I have pursued for my payments from Lagos to Abuja to no avail. But I have establish the facts that the federal government have paid. Only LUTH is holding it. I have gone to the extent of pleading with them to pay me even if I had to surrender some money from my own in whatever name but the story is the same.
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“We want LUTH to pay us our money. For the past nine months I have not been paid. All efforts goes through the ears and no results coming. They wanted us to work but they are not concern about our welfare. Imagine they will tell you as a doctor to show concern and attend to patients when your own welfare is thrown to the dogs! How do you function in this kind of situation? They have forgotten that we are also humans with blood running through our veins. How do you focus as a doctor and give the best?
“Those of our colleagues who left the shores of this country are doing very well. I know a number of them who left LUTH and today they are better. That is why we are living the services at LUTH because we are not being treated well. I am not concern about housing but pay my salary and help me meet my personal needs so I can work as expected. I am dealing with people’s lives and I needed to be focus.” The doctor who spoke on condition of anonymity said.
Attempts to get the CMAC, Professor Wasiu Adeyemo did not yield result. However, the Director of Administration, Mr. Babajide Grillo explained that, the issue of payment as regards the Resident Doctors who are concern is not base in LUTH.
“There are about 17 or 18 there about who left out of over 100 we employed.” Babajide Grillo explained. “The issue is not with LUTH. It started when the IPS people came and it was discovered that some of the employed already have an IPPIS number. This is just an issue of harmonization. However, you know this was being done by the office of the Accountant General and it has been shifted to the office of the Head of Service of the federation now. This will be sorted out.
“On the issue that doctors are living the services of the hospital as they would want the public to believe is not true. However, with this profession professionals like doctors are on record migrating. This is not only in LUTH. When you check out it is a general phenomenon. ” The Director Administration in LUTH said.
NEWSng also made efforts to contact the President of the Association of Resident Doctors, Dr. Samuel Okerinde but he could not return calls. However, the ARD Secretary General and Vice President of the Association responded to calls. Their positions also explained the generality of happenings within the medical profession as regards reasons for migration by these skilled professionals. They also hinted on the protest at LUTH and how it was put to calm but not resolved.
LUTH: How lack of communication is hampering operational activities
Health
We have the best Opthalmology department in the North East of Nigeria – Prof. Tahir

We have the best Opthalmology department in the North East of Nigeria –Prof. Tahir
By: Bodunrin Kayode
Medical Director of the ultra modern Police Hospital Damaturu Prof Bashir Tahir has said that his facility has one of the best Ophthalmology departments in North East Nigeria.
He made this declaration while speaking with this reporter in Damaturu recently.
Professor Tahir stated that having met the facility in a near comatose state, he and his team have been able to create a department of Opthalmology plus six others and set it on a very high standard ready to serve the people in the catchment area.

Tahir who spoke through his Director of Administration Mallam Hamza Saleh stated that “Our Opthalmology dept is one of the best in the North East of Nigeria and you can get a recommended glasses within an hour because of the state of arts machines in that very department in the hospital.”
Speaking on the current expansion going on in the facility the MD stated that “We have ENT and consultants coming from the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital UMTH alternatively during the week to do routine consultations, ward rounds and even operations in the theatre.

“We recently spent about N10m to buy equipments in the ENT and we do hope that all the equipments will be available before the end of the year.
On the revitalization of the facility, he went on: “We actually met the three theatres in bad shape but we have been able to put them into functional use by restructuring them accordingly. For now all three are functioning including the O and G theatre where routine operations have been conducted.

“When we came on board also the hospital was not departmentalized. So we did that and opened the way for more doctors to come by creating these seven departments for them to work in an organized way.
“All the departments are functional with seven consultants who man these departments to the satisfaction of all the patients who visit the facility.
This new facility can also boast of two Eye Nose and Throat surgeons and others as the support staff to support the facility.
“We have about 100 nurses with one that is a police officer. We also have some of them with specialized techniques and that has contributed to the progress of the place.
On medical lab scientists, the MD posited that they now have six lab scientists in different areas, two pharmacists and a couple of technicians that assist them on the ground on a daily basis.

They have a solid Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement with a pharmacy company in the supply of drugs which is used to stabilize the availability of drugs in the hospital.
On supply of drugs, he noted that they make sure that people served well and patient are the priority of anything that happens in the facility adding that they now have satellite pharmacies in the facility to ensure quality time is not wasted.
The MD said that it was part of their plan to get most of the major equipments before any fresh employment of any professional commences so that all hands will be on deck to ensure the best.
We have the best Opthalmology department in the North East of Nigeria –Prof. Tahir
Health
UMTH: Interventional Radiology Centre, a High-tech Medical Solution.

UMTH: Interventional Radiology Centre, a High-tech Medical Solution.
By: Balami Lazarus
After the devastating flood of September 2024, UMTH counted so many losses that ran into billions of naira. Little did the public expect too soon that another gigantic medical center that is not found in other hospitals in Nigeria, but only in Maiduguri, situated and being at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital-Borno State.
The IR Centre, or Interventional Radiology Centre, in the words of the Director of the Centre, Dr. Mohammed Lawan, is a hospital within a hospital, describing the massive building equipped with the latest medical equipment as a center for carrying out radiology services, for training, and for research purposes.
The Chief Medical Director, Professor Ahmed Ahidjo, Midas touch has produced and added medical value to nourish the healthcare delivery services through the new Interventional Radiology Center (IRC). “This center is another medical solution to interventional radiology treatments…. We are proud to have this as a medical facility”.



What is interventional radiology? According to Dr. Mohammed Lawan, who spoke to NEWSng. Interventional Radiology It is a medical specialty that performs various minimally invasive procedures and techniques to treat many medical conditions that once required open surgery. The use of medical imaging guidance through sophisticated and high-tech medical equipment like x-ray fluoroscopy, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, etc., are some major working medical gadgets to qualify interventional radiology. Therefore, the center is meant to offer specialized medical surgery/treatment and healthcare delivery services to patients at UMTH through interventional radiology surgery.
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In furtherance of NEWSng findings, a walk into the center opens up to so many clinics and equipment that draw attention. The center is an imposing building beautifully designed with offices equipped with furniture, medical equipment, and materials of high quality. Ultrasound, computed tomography, and other working tools are used to give it a full certification to be known, called, and addressed as the Interventional Radiology Center of standard offering international best practices.
Prof. Ahidjo told NEWSng that “we are the only ones that see the inside at all times when and where there are medical radiology cases. He further said that the center will also serve as a reference point for radiologists, consultants, doctors, and medical students. “The Interventional Radiology Center is meant to make a difference in providing quality healthcare services in medicine. IRC is my new baby”. e center has male and female wards with what it takes to have in a specialized sentence like IRC of UMTH. To make it easy for those with mobility challenges, the building is designed to ease their movement within the facility. The reception area and the patient’s waiting room, as well as the recovery room, are of worth according to standards obtainable in any medical center or hospital.

When NEWng entered into the building, Dr. Mohammed Lawan was already attending to patients, and this afforded our special team to see things firsthand. This concludes that with the emergence of IRC, UMTH has finally revealed the true medical specialty of Prof. Ahmed Ahidjo to so many people out there who see him like any other professor of medicine. The CMD and/or hospital administrator. “Prof. Ahidjo is a surgeon consultant and interventional radiologist, one of the best brains in this particular field of medicine, within and without,” said one radiologist.
UMTH: Interventional Radiology Centre, a High-tech Medical Solution.
Health
Why UMTH is Nigeria’s leading healthcare institution.

Why UMTH is Nigeria’s leading healthcare institution.
By: Dr. James Bwala
UMTH’s medical professionals and medical breakthroughs in Nigeria Medical institutions around the country should continue to prioritize infrastructure development. UMTH’s commitment to staff training and development was critical to its growth. The hospital invested heavily in ongoing professional development programs, ensuring that its medical staff were not only well-versed in the most recent information and skills used by the hospital, but also had the opportunity to show them. UMTH’s initiatives ensured that its healthcare professionals stayed at the cutting edge of medical advances and practices.
Professor Ahmed Ahidjo’s creative leadership has helped the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) become a renowned healthcare institution in Nigeria. Over the last 40 years, UMTH has experienced substantial modernization and expansion, transitioning from a single-building complex to a multi-institutional system. This expansion included the construction of important facilities such as a 150-bed trauma center and a 1,000-seat theater, which greatly improved the hospital’s ability to provide outstanding medical services. By deliberately extending its facilities, UMTH has established itself as a key healthcare provider not only in northeastern Nigeria but throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.
Furthermore, the hospital’s expansion reflects broader trends in Nigerian healthcare systems, which attempt to improve service delivery in the face of numerous problems. While many tertiary hospitals confront challenges such as insufficient medical equipment and staff training, UMTH’s proactive approach has enabled it to successfully manage these difficulties. As it continues to adapt and innovate in the healthcare industry, UMTH demonstrates how strategic planning may result in significant improvements in patient care.
Under Professor Ahmed Ahidjo’s guidance, UMTH developed its physical infrastructure while also investing in innovative medical technologies and thorough staff training programs to improve service delivery. This strategy not only increased the hospital’s operational efficiency, but it also drew a cadre of highly competent medical staff committed to sustaining high standards of care.
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These strategic developments, together with a dedication to excellence, have established UMTH as a leader in healthcare innovation and quality in the Northeast. Furthermore, the creation of specialist centers, including the 150-bed trauma center and renovated auxiliary facilities, has substantially improved UMTH’s ability to handle difficult medical cases, confirming its image as Nigeria’s preeminent healthcare institution. Furthermore, the hospital’s dedication to research and partnership with international medical institutes has created a culture of continual learning and innovation.
UMTH’s dedication to both patient care and academic quality has established a standard for other institutions in the region, maintaining its position as a healthcare leader. Under the innovative leadership of Professor Ahmed Ahidjo, UMTH has increased its facilities and services, most notably with the installation of a Child Institute, Cancer Centre, Burns Centre, a 150-bed trauma center, and a 1000-seat auditorium, amongst others, which have been important in improving its capacity to deliver.
Strategic connections with international institutions have not only fostered information exchange but also brought cutting-edge medical technology to the hospital’s doorstep. This technological breakthrough has not only increased diagnosis and treatment capacities but has also established UMTH as a top choice for medical education and research. Leveraging these improvements, UMTH has also prioritized healthcare professional training, ensuring that both current and new hires are skilled in using cutting-edge technology to offer excellent patient care.
The emphasis on continuing professional development has kept UMTH’s healthcare professionals at the forefront of medical developments, ensuring high levels of patient care and safety. Furthermore, the hospital’s concentration on research and development has resulted in ground-breaking studies that have greatly advanced medical knowledge, cementing its position as Nigeria’s preeminent healthcare facility.
This dedication to quality is also evident in the hospital’s patient satisfaction rates, which have regularly exceeded national averages, demonstrating the efficacy of its comprehensive approach to treatment. UMTH’s ability to provide great healthcare is enhanced by its strong infrastructure and an innovative culture that pervades all aspects of its operations.
Dr. James Bwala, PhD, writes from Abuja.
Why UMTH is Nigeria’s leading healthcare institution.
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