By Adamu Muhammad Dodo
Sen Ishaku Elisha Abbo popularly known as Cliff, has pledged a donation of one million naira to the hospital Paupers fund Yola.
Abbo a senator representing northern senatorial district of Adamawa state, northeast Nigeria, has made the pledge Friday, at the Federal Medical Centre FMC, Yola.
Abbo revealed that he initially visited the health facility to commiserate with his political campaign fan who was involved in an accident.
The visit has however turned out to be a great expectation as the senator went round the entire wards of the centre distributing money, encouraging patients to be strong, with the prayer that they “shall be healed in God’s name.”
Some of the patients on admission receiving free treatment, courtesy of the Hospital Paupers Fund, established by the management of FMC Yola, for the benefit of indigent patients, shared the same senatorial district with Sen Abbo, they or their relatives could even have voted for him in the 2O19 election.
Abbo was highly impressed with the paupers fund initiative and was satisfied with the way and manner the fund was managed, which prompted him to key into the fund scheme as a social responsibility
“Hospital Paupers Fund is a welcome development. It is a scheme that international donor agencies and organizations should key in and that which other hospitals across the country, should establish as a corporate social responsibility. In the interim, I’m making a donation of one million naira to the fund scheme,” Abbo said.
Having been impressed with the cleanliness of the hospital, the effective and efficient healthcare service delivery, Abbo has appointed himself a bona fide Ambassador of FMC Yola.
“My child was admitted here in 2009. I was also hospitalised in 2010. FMC Yola, to say the least, has improved tremendously both in terms of manpower and equipments. Look at the ongoing projects. That’s why we supported the move for the upgrading of the health facility to a teaching hospital and we shall ensure that the funds allocated for the actualisation of it, are captured in the supplementary budget.
“As an Ambassador of FMC Yola, I’ll mount a donation campaign, using YouTube, with a view to generating more funds for the Hospital Paupers Fund, so that more indigent patients can have free treatment, among other tasks targeted at adding value to the health facility,” Abbo assured.
Abbo noted that it is one thing to be a politician. It is however another to be a man of conscience when it comes to service to humanity as in healthcare.
“Sentiments; religious, tribal and/or party politics, should be kept aside and work collectively as a team for the sake of humanity. It is only inhuman for one to recklessly and mischievously challenge an organisation or personality that is working assiduously for the greatest good of the community, social welfare of the poor people and patient care, as a corporate social responsibility, such as what is obtained in FMC Yola and that which is worthy of emulation,” Abbo said.
“My brother the Medical Director Prof Auwal Muhammad Abubakar has done and is doing amazing things, making Adamawa state proud. He must therefore be supported by whatever means necessary. I will continue to agitate for more funds to be allocated to the health sector in the budget,” Abbo said.
Prof. Auwal the MD FMC Yola, having commended the three senators from Adamawa state for their cooperation and contribution in having the health facility upgraded and a medical college established, thanked Sen Abbo for the visit and the N1m donation to the Hospital Paupers Fund as was pledged.
Prof Auwal disclosed that the health facility enjoyed philanthropic interventions by the sons daughters of Adamawa state within and outside the country. The recent ones are the building and equipping of burn unit, which the former SGF Babachir David Lawal facilitated, A maternity complex built by the First Lady Her Excellency Aisha Muhammadu Buhari, a state-of-the-art X-ray machine donated by the SGF Boss Mustapha, patient- relatives waiting areas built by Alh Mohammed Aminu Umar Mayo-Belwa and other philanthropist.
Prof. Auwal further said that the health facility has benefitted from the intervention of the northeast development commission and petroleum equalisation fund, in addition to the interventions by other corporate organisations and donor agencies
Prof. Auwal revealed that referral cases from FMC Yola, have reduced drastically because consultants from all over the country have been visiting the health facility. This has translated to cutting down the cost of having have to travel for treatment where a patient would have been referred to.
The health facility, according to Prof Auwal, has since started postgraduate training in many departments. The challenge however was on healthcare funding. The overhead was not even enough to pay for power supply hence, the internally generated funds would have to be used.
Prof Auwal said that in spite of expanding the health facility to three hundred and thirty beds capacity, the occupancy has almost always been 100%.
“We have patients coming from southern Borno, Southern Gombe, northern Taraba and even neighbouring countries like Cameroon to access healthcare services in FMC Yola.”
“Unlike in Ghana and other counties where foreigners are charged hospital bills more than the citizens, In FMC Yola, our fees for service are moderate and uniform for all patients irrespective of citizenship,” Prof Auwal explained.
The primary and secondary healthcare facilities in the state are having challenge with effectiveness and efficiency in patient-care services. FMC Yola, though a referral hospital, would have to accommodate patients presented with ordinary malaria and even catarrh, thereby shouldering the constraints associated with the primary and secondary healthcare.
The patients on admission and their relatives the Periscope reporter interviewed, expressed their appreciations, showering blessings to Sen Abbo for taking part of the day to be with them in the hospital and for the donation in God’s name.