Guardian

WITH barely two months to the expiration of the first tenure of the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Professor Michael Ibadin, dissenting and counter-dissenting voices have begun to trail the process that would lead either the re-appointment of Ibadin for a qualified second term or the appointment of a new person as the head of the leading teaching hospital in South-South Nigeria.

Observers of the unfolding events at the hospital who strongly favoured the re-appointment of Ibadin believed that the man who took over from his kinsman, Eugene Okpere had performed creditably well for a re-appointment.

The Guardian gathered that the process for the appointment of a new CMD would soon commence, as officials of the Federal Ministry of Health would place public notice for the soon-to-be vacant position.

First to throw the salvo was a Bini ethno, socio-political and cultural organisation, Benin National Congress (BNC) when it issued a statement saying staff of the hospital were being coerced to endorse Ibadin’s re-appointment and that his first appointment was not on merit.

The group called on President Goodluck Jonathan and the Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu to ensure transparency in the process that would lead to the emergence of the next CMD of the hospital.

A statement signed by the BNC Director of Publicity, David Ekomwenrenren, noted that federal appointments had been characterised by “high-wired politics” at the expense of merit and fairness.

The statement said that this controversial style of picking parastatals heads have affected management of federal government institutions.

The group alleged: “We have it on good authority that the various union leaders in the UBTH are being blackmailed to officially endorse the incumbent administration on the pages of newspapers, (under the guise of felicitations) a situation that we consider antithetical to decorum, peace and tranquility before, during and after the recruitment exercise.

“As a socio-cultural organisation of Edo people, we don’t project any candidate for any public office of this nature, but we will resist any attempt to impose a dishonest candidate or a stooge by centrifugal force who believes that federal establishments are their inheritance, and that they must produce or impose their helmsmen,” it stated.

The group said that it believed in constructive engagement with institution but alleged that the last exercise to bring a head to the hospital was not transparent enough.

“It is to avoid a scenario of mutual suspicion between management, staff and community stakeholders that we make bold to say that the president should appreciate the peace in our communities by prevailing on the Ministry of Health to insist on fair play else they may plunge the establishment into chaos.

The statement said that the group would do everything possible including protests and legal action to ensure that the appointment of the next CMD in the hospital was transparent.

The Guardian gathered that the apprehension became heightened when news filtered that Federal Ministry of Health would soon place advertorials for the position as provided by law.

But Ibadin replied when he told The Guardian that he was appointed on merit. He insisted that his emergence as CMD was entirely based on merit. He told The Guardian: “I contested with 11 others, among them three Binis.

“I scored 88 points of the 131 votes. Next person to me, a Bini man, had 12. In the panel that interviewed the 12 of us subsequently, where I came out tops, were three panelists of Bini extraction. Chairman of the board then was Nimi Briggs.”

This was followed by various house unions which seriously criticised the BNC statement saying they were drawn into an issue they did not have any say.

The various house unions of the teaching hospital denied allegations by the BNC that they were coerced by the management of the hospital to endorse Ibadin for re-appointment.

Statements by Deputy Chairman, Medical Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), Dr. Nosa Bazuaye, president, UBTH Chapter, Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), Dr. Okafor Kingsley, President, Medical and Health Workers of Nigeria, Benson Afekhide, and President Non-Academic Staff Union, Sunday Bello all condemned the statement by the BNC published by some national dailies last week that the CMD was not also appointed by merit.

Kingsley told journalists at a news briefing that the authors of the said statement were attempting to bring ethnic angle into a national issue. “We find the publication not only offensive, but as capable of unnecessary angles to a purely national and professional issue. The appointment of a chief medical director follows stringent and time-tested procedures and only the best would emerge when the rule are followed as they are wont to.

He said that the unions “are groups of professionals who are committed, empathic and above all independent adding that the ARD maintained an independent spirit and worked towards optimal patients care and industrial harmony.

Speaking for MDCAN, Bazuaye said that the group “cannot be blackmailed, has not been blackmailed nor cajoled into being involved UBTH politics. It is the Board and the ministry that are responsible for appointing a CMD. It is very unfair to the consultants and we want to be left alone to seeing our patients and not be drawn into the CMD position.”

For NASU, Bello dissociated to body from the allegation of being coerced. “NASU as a union has no legitimate authority to endorse the candidacy of the CMD.”

Scheming has intensified as stakeholders have been pitching tent with political power big wigs that are considered relevant and influential in the struggle to see their ambition become a reality.

Ibadin is strongly believed to have been instrumental to the infrastructural and human capacity development of the up to date UBTH that is the pride of the people and patient across the country.

The hospital during his time had a breakthrough in stem cell transplant among others.

Ibadin in a recent interview with The Guardian enumerated some of his achievement to include the breakthrough in the stem cell, which he noted was “the biggest medical breakthrough, that this institution has embarked upon lately.”

Ibadin said that the “stem cell transplant that we did in 2010/2011 is a major achievement recorded in my administration. We are the only centre in West Africa that has ever done this. It was a breakthrough, because it was the first of its kind in this part of the world. The concept is that you change somebody internal structure completely. They are called stem cells because they are very, very, immature cells. In the case of the sickle cell for instance, you harvest from an individual who don’t have the problem and put in an individual who have the problem with the hope that they will grow to a predetermined procedure. It is not just for sickle cell, other carriers of other diseases such as leukemia can also do it. So, stem cell was successfully done here.

“We were given mandate and we met all of them. In terms of research, I have as many as 174 consultants here and 95 per cent of them are researchers and lecturers.      There is no year we don’t have between three and five of them promoted as professors based on their research.

They are resident in this hospital and their research works are done in UBTH here. In terms of treatment of patients, on the average, we admit at least 35 patients everyday and discharge 30 everyday. Those who come here for treatment are about 2500 everyday, except weekends when the figures drop slightly. This is the only centre in the country where you have a walk-in chemist.”

Ibadin has been highly favoured for a return going by his level of performance, but the powers that be are believed to be bent on seeing his back not because of non-performance but more of ethnic considerations.