The Chief Medical Director, CMD, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki (AE-FUTHA), Ebonyi State, Prof. Robinson Onoh, said that the hospital is partnering with international research bodies to run a clinical vaccine trial for Lassa fever in its determination to curb the scourge of Lassa fever in Nigeria.
Prof. Onoh made the disclosure while enumerating some of his achievements and challenges facing the hospital in the last year he became the chief medical director of the hospital.
He said that the research is going to be a light at the end of a very dark tunnel for the hospital adding that the hospital is collaborating with other partners and is currently building a dedicated Clinical Vaccine Trial Complex that will be dedicated just for research studies.
“The Clinical Vaccine Trial for Lassa Fever we are currently undertaking is being sponsored by Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Innovation, (CEPI). The C111 clinical vaccine trial phase 2b has funders and partners like IVI MMACRO, IAVI, IQVIA, EDES Associates, PHAMALCY, TCP and ACEGID.
“This is a multi-Centre and multi-Country Clinical Trial and it is the first Vaccine Trial in Nigeria. This has upgraded our Hospital Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki to a Centre of Excellence in Research especially Clinical Trial Research,” he said.
He reiterated the preparedness of the hospital to tackle the scourge of Lassa fever and other viral diseases in the Southeast region and the country at large.
“Lassa fever came to our hospital like a big problem, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. When Lassa came to this hospital, that was in 2005, it came in a very bad way because it took away the lives of health care workers here.
These were very active and vibrant ones young workers.
“Doctors died. Nurses died. Health attendants died and succumbed to Lassa. Their death gave rise to the effort we are putting in place to ensure that no other death is recorded in the hospital as a result of Lassa fever.
“Let me appreciate our partners because during that period, we had support from all the partners, WHO, NCDC, MSF, and even our neighbouring institution, Irruwa Specialist Teaching Hospital.
“They all came to help us build capacity in terms of training in Infection Prevention and Control, and also in terms of treatment. I also want to commend some of our health care workers who also did their best in making sure that those who come down with Lassa are treated.
“This hospital has also started Electronic Medical Record System in full scale, meaning that we are going paperless, and we’ve also been able to bring up areas that are quite innovative.
“We’ve been able to start an IVF centre where we’ve done IVF procedures in batches. In our first batch, we had a 70% success rate, so it’s one of the areas that I talk about when I want to talk about achievement, because through that, we’ve been able to give hope to the hopeless.
“People who have gone far and wide trying to achieve conception came into this hospital, paid very little, and many of them have triplets in gestation,” he said.
Prof Onoh maintained that the hospital is in need of some modern equipment, which includes CT scans, MRI, Fluoroscopy, Mammography machines, Lithotripsy Machines, Catheterization Laboratory Machines, PET Machines, LASER Machines, and Radiotherapy machines, amongst others.
Prof Onoh decries the outrageous billing given to the hospital by the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, EEDC.
“Power has been so epileptic, and the bills that come from EEDC are quite high. You can imagine this hospital being billed over N40 million in a month. Such billing makes it difficult for us to sustain other sections of the hospital when we pay for power at such a high amount. Power is a very major challenge that we have here. Even in providing an alternative power supply when the EEDC National Grid is not on. We need to get diesel to run the system. Running such a seamless power supply structure has proven to be very expensive and challenging to maintain,” he added.
He commended President Bola Tinubu for appointing him as the Chief Medical Director of the hospital. “We’ve been able to do things that align with the initiative of Mr. President and the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare,” he added.
He also commended Governor Francis Nwifuru and wife, the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi and other National Assembly members for their support and commitment to the progress of the hospital.
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