NINE years later. with over N29 billion expended, the Federal Government's plan to refurbish 14 teaching hospitals in the country is far from satisfactory implementation.Nine years after the contract was signed between Vamed Engineering and the Federal Government, most respondents, doctors and hospital administrators say the project has not met its promise of providing state-of-the-art medical equipment comparable to others in the world. It has not prevented braindrain, stopped Nigerians from going abroad for medical diagnosis and treatment, and has not improved medical training and research.Reason: Some of the teaching hospitals are having challenges maintaining the equipment due to lack of locally-trained biomedical engineers or delay by the contractor in responding to distress call; and paucity of funds to complete pre-installation work. Some of the hospitals have challenges moving to their permanent sites.Other problems are irregular power supply which causes the equipment to breakdown frequently; alleged non-compliance with the terms of the contract by the contractor; and some of the equipment are getting obsolete and do not meet modern technological requirement.But some say it is the best thing to have happened to teaching hospitals in the country and score the project 90 per cent. They also claim there are plans by the Federal Government to continuously train Nigerians to troubleshoot and maintain the equipment, and replace obsolete ones.The Chairman of the Presidential Project Implementation Committee (PPIC) on the teaching hospital refurbishing project, Emeritus Prof. Wole Akande; and the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, at separate fora, said the equipment are working.Akande and Chukwu are supported by reports from the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH); University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH); Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH); Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital (OAUTH), Ile-Ife; University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), Borno; Usman Danfodio University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH), Sokoto; and Aminu Kano University Teaching Hospital (AKUTH), Kano that showed that the equipment are working and patients are benefitting.However, the many challenges faced by some of the teaching hospitals especially those in the first phase were brought to the fore last week by the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Prof. Temitope Alonge, who declared that the equipment procured for the hospital were obsolete six years after commissioning.Alonge's assertion was corroborated by reports from Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) in Shika, Zaria, Kaduna State; University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Rivers State; and University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ituku Ozalla, Enugu State.However, the project at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), Cross River State; Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi, Anambra State; and University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Edo State are not yet completed.Alonge stated that the equipment are technically obsolete and out of tune with the demands of the medical world. He explained that the equipment were out of tune with the present technology due to the fact that they were supplied six years after they ought to have been brought for use in the hospital.The Guardian learnt that ABUTH is gradually becoming a mere consulting edifice with most of the equipment grounded for lack of maintenance.Investigation carried out by The Guardian showed that most of the installed equipment at ABUTH may rot away after the contract with the company was terminated in December last year, for lack of maintenance and spare parts for replacement.According to the CMD of UPTH, Prof. Aaron Ojule, the company has not succeeded in the programme implementation.However, Minister of Health told The Guardian: 'The project is working. I have visited most of the sites and I can tell you that I am impressed. We just commissioned UDUTH and AKUTH. I have inspected OAUTH and UBTH, and they are ready for commissioning. You can go there and see things for yourself.'In 2002, the Federal Government under President Olusegun Obasanjo entered into a contract with Helmut Dietrich for Vamed Engineering GMBH & Co. KG, to refurbish eight hospitals in the first phase of the project worth N17 billon. The teaching hospitals under the first phase are: UCH; ABUTH; UNTH; and UPTH.Others are: JUTH; UMTH; LUTH; and UITH.The terms of contract of the project covered rehabilitation, design, procurement, supply and installation, training of health personnel, and five years maintenance of the equipment.The contract was later upgraded in 2007 to include six more teaching hospitals in a N12 billion contract.The six teaching hospitals include: UDUTH; AKUTH; OAUTH; UBTH; NAUTH; and UCTH.According to the terms of the contract, the project was expected to be completed over a period of five years. The core clinical areas to be refurbished included radiology (diagnostics and therapeutic), surgery (theatres), intensive care, the laboratories, accident and emergency and special clinical departments.So far, the following Teaching Hospitals have been commissioned: ABUTH (November 2005); UCH (December 2005); UPTH (October 2006); UMTH (February 2007); UNTH (April 2007); LUTH (May 2007); UITH (May 2007); JUTH (May 2007); UDUTH; and AKUTH.
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