By Ighomuaye Lucky. O
The Chief Medical Director of the Edo Specialist Hospital, Benin, Dr. Anthonia Inibokun Njoku, said the hospital was almost run aground due to the N500 million debt owed by the past management of the hospital.
She disclosed this while debunking the claim of her being parading herself with a lot of security details.
Dr. Njoku said that the state governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo attention was drawn to the indebtedness of the hospital and he waded in and services were revitalized.
“When we took over this hospital in December and we inherited a lot of bills close to N500 million. The hospital was indebted to a very large tune.
“And in fact, it was as if services were going to grind down. We talked to Mr. Governor and the previous people managing this hospital, that is the private consultants, they have been investigated, you know, to find out what happened, how those debts were inherited but we know that this is a hospital providing essential care.
“And because Mr. Governor is somebody who has a heart in making sure essential services will not stop, he encouraged us, he supported us, and we have kept services running in this hospital”, Dr. Njoku said.
Njoku however refuted the claim made on the video making the rounds on the social media that she goes about with a lot of security details.
“One other thing that I would need to address in that video when he talked about security, how the Chief Medical Director pays a lot of attention to security aids and all of that. That is quite laughable because I do not even have any security.
“So, I wonder how? Where so much money has gone into my own personal security but in fact, he has actually made me now conscious of the fact that I need to have security. I have never had security.
“So right now, I think with the permission of Mr. Governor, I would need to have some security because I have been relying on God as my security and I know He is still my security, but I think we need to have that”, Njoku added.
The CMD said she was appointed by the governor based on her wealth of experience and that she has been able to use it to turn the fortune of the hospital around.
“In fact, we have made some giant strides. I will speak to data because fortunately, we have kept data in this hospital, and there, anybody can access the data because we do electronic medical recording here.
“Our patient encounter in the last three months has increased by about 8.9 to percent.
“Our OPD attendance has increased by about 11.27 percent . Our new patients, that is new patients coming to the hospital, have increased by about 9.5 percent. Our admissions have also increased to about 3.81 percent.
“And we have not recorded any maternal death. I speak to that specifically because I am an obstetrician gynecologist.
“I am not somebody who likes to blow my trumpet but the records are there to show whether I am a square peg in a square hole but I think I am.
“And all of this gets to show that if the hospital was falling apart, you wouldn’t be recording these successes.
“This has also translated even even to our internally generated revenue”, Njoku stressed.
