The David Umahi Federal University Teaching Hospital (DUFUTH), Uburu, Ebonyi State has provided free medical treatment to no fewer than 8,000 vulnerable individuals, including children, elderly, indigents, and pregnant women, through its first phase of medical extension programme and outreaches across the state.
It was carried out in four recently activated rural primary healthcare centres handed over to the hospital by the state government.
Professor Uzoma Maryrose Agwu, Chief Medical Director of DUFUTH, disclosed this on Tuesday while addressing a visiting team from the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, led by the Permanent Secretary, Daju Kachollom.
Kachollom was on a tour of the hospital as part of her two-day official visit to Ebonyi State to flag off the nationwide cancer awareness and free cancer screening programme.
Professor Agwu enumerated challenges facing the hospital, including lack of steady water supply, shortage and epileptic power supply, and manpower shortages among others.
She appealed for intervention from the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Health to address these challenges.
The CMD commended President Bola Tinubu for the impact of his Renewed Hope Agenda on the health sector and other areas of the country.
She also praised the competence and dedication of the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, and the Permanent Secretary in driving the agenda to benefit DUFUTH and other federal health institutions.
She noted that DUFUTH has made significant strides in its mission to break the tide of foreign medical tourism through excellent breakthroughs in various areas of medical practice.
She added that the hospital has become a centre of excellence in clinical and internship training and has effectively discharged its corporate social responsibilities in free medical examination and treatment, including cancer screening.
Agwu said: “Despite challenges as a new teaching hospital, DUFUTH has continued to forge ahead.
“In the last three years, we have rolled out several medical outreaches within and outside our host community, offering screenings for cervical cancer, blood sugar levels, eye exams, routine dental check-ups, blood pressure checks, de-worming exercises, nutritional talks, distribution of drugs and interventional items, and have deployed our professionals to oversee these medical initiatives.”
The hospital has also screened for diseases such as hypertension, malaria, tuberculosis, and others that, if discovered early and treated, could be cured.
Professor Agwu announced that the hospital has established a thriving College of Health Technology, which will soon commence its third batch of student admissions, and a College of Nursing Sciences, soon to be launched.
She appealed for increased budgetary allocation to enable the hospital to continue delivering on its vision and mission as the newest and most proficient Federal Teaching Hospital in the South East.
She said: The weight of our budgetary allocation is minimal compared to the volume of structural and super-structural facilities required to keep the Teaching Hospital afloat and sustain its standard as a centre of medical excellence.
“We plead that DUFUTH passes as one of the receivers of the numerous benefits that flow from government.”
Kachollom described cancer as one of the non-communicable diseases ravaging Nigerians.
She advocated for preventive rather than curative measures, stating that teaching citizens how to live healthy lives would reduce medical expenses and hospital visits.
She noted that since President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, the health sector has improved, and the Federal Ministry of Health has decided on a four-point agenda focusing on governance and leadership, quality health outcome, and unlocking the value chain.
