Bishop Callistus Onaga inaugurating Mother and Child Unit of GOUNI Teaching Hospital
The Catholic Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Most Rev. Callistus Onaga, on Thursday inaugurated the Mother and Child Unit of the Godfrey Okoye University Teaching Hospital, Enugu.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the Godfrey Okoye University (GOUNI), is owned by the Catholic Diocese of Enugu and recently converted and upgraded one of its hospital, “Ntasiobi Ndino Na’ Afufu’’ to serve as a teaching hospital to the university.
Inaugurating the unit, Onaga urged the medical personnel to always take recourse in God when treating patients for quick healing.
According to him, whoever is committed to taking care of the sick must take recourse to fix it, saying that without God, it might be difficult to heal.
He said, “You all are our medical experts and I believe when you begin to analyse and separate different arteries and veins in the body, you will begin to cherish the creator on how he brought all these things together.
“We can only commit ourselves to helping patients but without God, we are in trouble and people come to you with faith because they believe that with you they will get better.
“You are an instrument of God physically and humanly, so always take recourse in him,” he said.
The bishop added that he knew many surgeons, physicians and experts before they went for any major work, prayed to God while those who did not believe in God, prayed to other being they believed in.
“For there is need for us to know that without God, we cannot be healed. So see that whoever comes to this hospital will come with a different understanding of health and healing, especially meeting you,” Onaga advised.
While pledging to work with the university to provide mortuary for the hospital, the cleric said he was hopeful the hospital would soon compete with other teaching hospitals in the country and beyond.
In his remarks, the Vice Chancellor of GOUNI, Prof. Christian Anieke, thanked Onaga for his commitment to the growth of the university, stressing that the teaching hospital would serve people of Nigeria, the College of Medicine and the university.
According to him, with the Mother and Child facility, nobody is in doubt with their medical education, and expressed the hope that the teaching hospital becomes one of the best hospital in Nigeria and world.
“It is one of the giant stride of the university. We have existing structures here before we took over; it is going to be one of the best hospital not just in Nigeria but in any part of the world.
“It is a little beginning with mother and child unit,” Anieke said.
Earlier in an address, the Chief Medical Director of the Hospital, Prof. Cajethan Nwadinigwe, said since taking over of the hospital, it had witnessed steady improvement in all spheres of her activities.
He said through the intervention of Anieke, the hospital had received infrastructural face lift, adding that the completion of Mother and Child unit and the ongoing rehabilitation of the main building was testimony of the determination of the VC to reposition the hospital.
“The Mother and Child unit will serve as a hub for Obstetrics and Neonatal care. It has a total of 36 beds with provision for operation theatre, Intensive Care Unit, New Born Baby special Care Unit and 16 private room wards.
“We have opened blood banking services in the hospital which is critical for effective care in obstetrics, major surgeries, accident and emergencies.
“Our challenges include; lack of basic diagnostic equipment such as X-ray machines, CT Scan, MRI, automated Blood and Chemistry analyzers, pathology lab, echocardiographic machines, ambulance services and mortuary,” he said.
He stressed that the lack of mortuary often made them to release dead bodies even when the hospital bills had not been cleared because of other patients in the same ward. (NAN)
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