The managing director of the North Central National Orthopedic Hospital, Jos, Prof. Icha Inalegwu, has revealed that the facility’s mission is to build generations of mobile and functional people in the face of increasing musculoskeletal challenges.
According to him, the hospital has commenced full clinical outpatient operations and is one of the three hospitals signed into law by former President Muhammadu Buhari at the tail end of his administration.
“We have similar hospitals in Benin and Jalingo, these were established to ensure equitable geographical spread, especially in regions that didn’t have such specialised health institutions,” he added.
Prof Inalegwu made the revelation while addressing newsmen in Jos. He said the journey has not been easy.
“As you know, the country is going through tough financial times.
“Funds are limited. But we have tried to use the resources available to us as efficiently as possible, to get this place functional,” he added.
He maintained that the facility was the old JUTH satellite site, which had been abandoned for 14 years and deserted for 13 years by 2023. He stressed that the structures were dilapidated, the roofs gone, and the ceilings collapsed.
“We had to renovate everything from scratch. We re-roofed buildings, fixed ceilings, and carried out full-scale renovations,” he added.
According to him, there is still so much to do, and a lot is ongoing. “If you ask me what the greatest challenge is, I’ll tell you plainly, funding. It’s been tough. We received an intervention fund from the former Deputy Speaker to begin renovations, but we’re still owing money from the commissioning,” he noted.
He called for adequate funding so that they could start delivering on their core mandate: “This institution is purely orthopaedic. Orthopaedics deals with the bones, muscles, tendons, and related structure,the mechanics of movement. That’s our job.”
“So, for example, we are not equipped to treat conditions like pregnancy; we don’t handle that. We are not trained or set up to treat malaria, typhoid, diarrhea, hypertension, diabetes, or cough. These are outside our mandate.
“Such cases should go to primary healthcare centres, general hospitals, or tertiary institutions like JUTH.
“Our core focus is clear: treating fractures, trauma from accidents, hip and joint problems—anything related to movement. Our aim is to restore mobility. That’s our function: to help you move again. We want to make our people functional”.
Prof Inalegwu further stated that they are seeing a trend where the population is ageing, and life expectancy is declining noting that in the days to come, they hope to perform all the sophisticated procedures known in the field.
He also said, “Let me clarify, this is a regional hospital. It is meant to serve Plateau, Benue, Nasarawa, Kogi, Kwara, and Niger states, we are lucky to have the hospital located here in Plateau State.”
