Kennedy K. Mase
17/2/2023
In May 2015 when Governor Samuel Ortom was sworn in as the 5th democratically elected Governor of Benue State, healthcare delivery in the state was confronted with several challenges that had partially crippled the sector in the state.
The Schools of Nursing and Midwifery in Makurdi, the College of Health Technology Agasha as well as the College of Health Sciences, Benue State University which played critical roles in the training of personnel for the health sector were at their lowest ebb.
Some of these institutions had lost their accreditation for more than three years and were no longer admitting students. The loss which occured in 2013 could be attributed to lack of adequate staff, funding and infrastructure, dilapidation as well as absence of modern teaching facilities.
For the School of Nursing Makurdi, the Ortom administration did comprehensive reconstruction which positively affected the classrooms, the halls, road network, hostels, and staff offices that of the Principal, comprehensive new equipment for teaching and learning were procured for the library and laboratories, additional manpower was also procured, and the perimeter fence of the school was reconstructed as well.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council had commended the Benue State Governor for giving the school a holistic lift.
Governor Ortom also procured official vehicles, two 34-seater buses and two official cars for the School of Nursing and Midwifery Makurdi.
Within one year in office Governor Ortom turned around the fortunes of the schools.
All these enabled the schools to regain accreditation in 2016.
Similar reconstruction the perimeter fence was also carried out at the College of Health Technology Agasha.
The result of Governor Ortom’s intervention resulted in resumption of admission for the three health institutions Schools of Nursing and Midwifery Makurdi, as well as College of Health Technology, Agasha.
From 2016 until the affiliation of the School of Nursing to the College of Health Sciences of the Benue State University Makurdi, 165 Nurses graduated successfully. The affiliation itself, which the Ortom administration complied with promptly, was at the directive of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria which recommended that by 2023 such a development would be imperative.
For the College of Health Sciences at the Benue State University, by the time the Ortom administration came on board, it was yet to receive full accreditation, as such several sets of its students had stagnated for upwards of 12 years. This was a worrisome situation, given the contributions that if medical doctors had graduated from the college, they could have made towards healthcare delivery in the state over those years of stagnation.
Governor Ortom swiftly provided the necessary funding to meet the accreditation requirements of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria so as to facilitate the graduation of the stagnated medical students.
Less than six months after Ortom assumed office, the College of Health Sciences received accreditation on September 14th, 2015. On 28th October of the same year, the first set of students at the College completed their graduation examinations after 12 years. Some of the first set of these graduates Moses Asue from Vandeikya, John Adejoh from Otukpo, Abigail Ngaji from Ukum and Usha Anenga from Katsina-Ala expressed profound appreciation to Governor Ortom for matching his words with action. They said he broke the jinx that had held them back for so long.
On November 12, 2015, 27 of the 40 pioneer students of the College of Health Sciences of the Benue State University took the Hippocratic Oath as medical doctors. Since then, the college has graduated six more sets bringing to seven and a total of 272 medical doctors.
Apart from upgrade of facilities at the School of Nursing and Midwifery Makurdi, as well as College of Health Technology Agasha, Governor Ortom also intervened in the accreditation of the NKST School of Nursing and Midwifery Mkar by donating funds to the institution to meet its re-accreditation requirements. Following that intervention, the school has also been granted accreditation.
The Ortom administration has also constructed 42 Primary Health Care centers across the state in partnership with the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs. It also procured and supplied modern day medical equipment, furniture and consumables, ambulances to health centers while a drug revolving scheme has been established in Agatu, Gboko, Ohimini, Oju, Ushongo and Tarka local government areas, in order to ensure sustainability of grassroots medical care in those areas.
These efforts have been anchored in the office of the Special Adviser on Development Cooperation, SDGs and NEPAD, Professor Magdalene Dura. The office also procured six referral vehicles to tackle emergencies in the six local government areas mentioned above.
Also under healthcare delivery, 22 solar powered boreholes, seven hand pumps have been drilled and installed in most of the 42 healthcare centers while the HIV, Malaria and Tuberculosis Healthcare Center at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital has been completed.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the state government also provided testing centers, isolation and treatment facilities at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Federal Medical Center Makurdi, General Hospital Gboko and several other health institutions across the state.
The Epidemiological Unit of the Ministry of Health has also been upgraded through complete facelift and provision of equipment.
Governor Samuel Ortom ensured the establishment of the Primary Health Care Board which had been on the drawing board since March 2013. With the establishment of the board, the services of healthcare at the grassroots level have been brought under one roof which entails one plan, one management and one monitoring and euation team.
Since establishment, the board has ensured successful implementation of primary healthcare under one roof in compliance with the pillars stipulated by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency.
The Board has moved all local government health staff from the local government service commission and brought it under its authority as well as established local government health authorities in all the 23 local governments of the state. It has moved the salaries and emoluments of health workers from the Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs to its management as well as acquired a functional edifice for operation at its headquarters in Makudi.
Having taken off successfully, the board has ensured routine immunization across the state with the support of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, UNICEF and WHO as well as ensured the supply of vaccines to all the 23 local government areas of the state. It has received and distributed 128 Solar Direct Drive Fridges supplied by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency to all the local governments in the state in conjunction with Grand Alliance for Vaccine Initiative after successfully inaugurating the state emergency routine immunization coordination center.
It has also successfully coordinated Family planning services, ensured implementation of the National Health Act in the state, secured N100 million counterpart funding for free treatment of vulnerable people, the board has recruited, trained, and posted 100 midwives to health facilities across the state, procured two cooling vans for vaccine cold chain maintenance with support from Saving One Million Lives to facilitate distribution of vaccines to the 23 local government areas and procured cold room as well as some refrigerators for ensuring cold chain and potency of vaccines.
The Primary Health Care Board has also ensured the implementation of nutritional activities maternal, newborn and child healthcare week in over 800 primary healthcare facilities across the state twice a year as well as increased vitamin A supplementation to children.
In order to ensure smooth operation, the board has procured and installed a 50KVA generator at its headquarters in Makudi.
In October 2019, Governor Samuel Ortom inaugurated the Steering Committee on National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS, to tap into the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund established by the Federal Government.
Inaugurating the committee at the Benue Peoples House Makurdi, Governor Ortom noted that the state had committed the sum of N100 million as her counterpart fund as one of the basic requirement to accessing N1.7 billion which would be disbursed to the Benue State Health Insurance Agency and the state Primary Health Care Board.
In October 2022, accolades were heaped on Governor Ortom when the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanning machine arrived at the Benue Hospital a few months after the Governor visited the hospital and promised the procurement of one for the tertiary health institution.
Commissioner for Health, Dr. Joseph Ngbea has since its arri ensured that the MRI machine is successfully installed and ready for use at the health facility.
The machine happens to be one of the few available in the country.
Since it’s establishment, the Benue State University Teaching Hospital is witnessing it’s first renovation exercise during the Governor Ortom administration which is currently ongoing and has received commendations from members of the public.
Governor Samuel Ortom’s administration billed to round up in May 2023 will definitely leave remarkable success stories in the health sector, which is the greatest gift one can give, because like Mahatma Gandhi said, it is health that is real wealth, not pieces of gold and silver.
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