Our 10-Year Plan To Rank Among Top Three Teaching Hospitals Prompted Us To Establish Permanent Site—NAUTH CMD

By Chuks Eke

Prof. Joseph Ugboaja, Chief Medical Director, CMD of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, NAUTH, Nnewi, Anambra state, has revealed that the institution’s vision, as outlined in its 10-year action plan, is to be among the top three teaching hospitals in the country.

He stated that NAUTH does not mind ranking among the best teaching hospitals in the country, but because it is the newest, it has established immediate, medium, and long-term goals to rank among the top three, from which it will pursue the best among equals in the country.

Prof. Ugboaja announced that the Minister of Health, Muhammad Ali Pate, will visit the Permanent Site of the Teaching Hospital at Oraifite in Ekwusigo Local Government Area of the state to commission projects.

He stated that NAUTH’s ambition to rank among the top three has motivated him and his management team to set immediate, medium-, and long-term action goals to achieve the desired target.

According to Ugboaja, “When I came on board as CMD in 2021, the hospital was already about 31 years old and we were still at a temporary site, and we began to fashion our immediate, medium, and long-term goals.”

“Our immediate goal was to stabilise our services at our temporary Nnewi location and upgrade the structures. We did not have any functional Dialysis, but we did get some. We have also purchased theatrical equipment.”

“We outlined nine strategic pillars that we intend to achieve under that short-term goal. We needed people who were willing to make our vision a reality, so we assembled experts and physical infrastructures such as buildings, roads and drainage, transportation infrastructure, ICT, power, acquisition of high-quality equipment, and digitalization.”

“With all of these steps taken so far, we have moved closer to replacing analogue systems with digital ones. Human resource management became our pillar, ranking third on our priority list.

We created a comprehensive welfare package to ensure employee satisfaction and comfort. We introduced collaboration and partnership with some good-spirited individuals as our fourth pillar, involving both internal and external stakeholders.”

The visit of Health Minister Ali Pate on Wednesday is critical to us because he will commission several key projects.

During his first official visit, Chief Cletus Ibeto of the Ibeto Group and Sir Emeka Offior, Chairman of EEDC, will be recognised for their outstanding contributions to the development of NAUTH.

“The newly completed GOPD Complex will be named after Ibeto, and the 250-bed medical complex will be named after Sir Emeka Offior.”