Chief Medical Director (CMD) of EBSUTH, Dr. Onyebuchi Chukwu while receiving the President EBSUTH Staff Cooperative Thrift and Credit Society Limited, Dr. Chidi Esike that presented him an award giving to the society by the National Institute of cooperative professionals, said the hospital has obtained the service of medical informatics expert who he said has been doing so well to develop IT facilities in the hospital.
According to the CMD, “We are probably one of the first teaching hospitals in Nigeria to have a department of medical informatics and medical informatics is all about the use of information technology in medicine.
“We are lucky to have someone who is on part-time with us and he has masters in that area. So knowledgeable and well skilled, certified by Microsoft, Cisco and the rest of them and he has been doing well to develop IT facilities here.
“Once you bring your laptop here, you can browse the internet anywhere within the hospital premises but we are also using it for the practice of medicine. This is because the issue of telemedicine is gradually catching on in Nigeria.”
Dr. Chukwu said the teaching hospital is facing challenges like land that it requires for construction of a physiotherapy building, laboratory complex and other buildings that will be used for social services.
“Our challenge is funding. We have a lot of ideas, proposals to develop but there is no money. The state government tells you they are handicapped and you can’t increase hospital bill because most people in Ebonyi State are indigent,” the CMD lamented.
Earlier, the EBSUTH Cooperative President, Dr Esike had told the CMD that over N7 million had been given as emergency loan, thus relieving great financial pressures on the workers and the hospital management.
He also stated that the Cooperative had sunk a borehole with overhead tanks which had been a source of water supply and great relief to the host community. “Since inception, we have given over N50 million as loan to our members. Workers who had never dreamt of it had become proud owners of cars, lands and houses, among others.”
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Dennis Agbo
Quelle/Source: Vanguard, 18.08.2008
