From Ijeoma John, Nnewi.
The Chief Medical Director of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH) ,Nnewi, Prof.Joseph Ugboaja OON has on Tuesday, 10th of June, 2025 hosted the Special Adviser to the President on Health, Dr Salma Ibrahim Anas.
The CMD in his presentation at the ICT Center, NAUTH permanent site ,titled “Making of New NAUTH, a Product of Vision ,Hardwork ,Sacrifice and Teamwork , thanked Dr.Anas for honoring their invitation.
He said his journey as the CMD of NAUTH started four years ago, in August 10th,2021 with the vision to rank among the top three hospitals in Nigeria by the year ,2030.
Ugboaja enumerated their nine clear pillars as;Corporate governance, infrastructure development, equipments, research and innovation,human capital, partnerships,financial management and staff welfare Motivation.
He said those pillars were intentionally crafted, adding that they could be expanded as well.
Remarkably, the CMD said what had happened between 2021 to 2025 remained the collective efforts of their team who had worked tirelessly to ensure tremendous progress.
He disclosed that they have moved almost 95% of hospital units to the permanent site , adding that before the end of the year, 2025 all the units will be at the new site which would complete the first phase of implementation of their plan.
“The next phase will be to build centers of excellence and establish training school. We are building NAUTH to be the largest hospital in Africa at 5,000 beds.
“People laughed when we said in 2021 ,we would move to the permanent site in the next 4 years, but we were able to move the hospital to its permanent site from 350 beds to 1,500 beds today.
“This happened over the last four years, now that we have gotten our structures, we would even move faster in upgrading the hospital”, he reaffirmed.
Ugboaja further disclosed that one of their uttermost goals would be to convert the institution to a center of tourism.
The CMD further remarked that the maiden visit of the Special Adviser to the President on Health meant a lot to the institution.
“I am just presenting the hospital to Mr President through her.
Customarily, when you make presentation, you look at the place, the prospects, and the challenges where you want Mr President to assist you further ”
he added.
Ugboaja outlined some of the challenges the institution faced and requested that Mr President would assist them by increasing funding, and human resource to enable the hospital to be the topnotch.
Responding, Dr Ibrahim Anas showed her satisfaction with the tremendous transformation of NAUTH’s permanent site, adding that the transformation was a true demonstration of Renewed Hope Health Agenda.
She said the upgraded facilities made the institution a high class teaching hospital in Africa.
Furthermore, Dr Anas revealed that part of the things Mr President vowed to do was to revive medical tourism.
“Seeing this today in NAUTH,I think it is possible for us to achieve that our initiative here in the South East ,especially in NAUTH.
“It gladies my heart that this is government owned resources.Having seen that the community, including the Igwe supported to the growth of the institution,this truly demonstrated partnership we need,collaboration with community and effective utilization of government resources for the intended purposes “, she said.
She appreciated Prof.Ugboaja, the NAUTH CMD for the great work he has been doing in terms of getting things done effectively.
Dr Anas reiterated Mr President’s commitment in ensuring delivery of quality healthcare in Nigeria adding that healthcare remained an integral part of National development.
She promised to work with the CMD to make sure that NAUTH becomes a medical tourism and also to work with the resources that existed in achieving that goal.
She further revealed that the first lady would be excited with the mother and child unit which she said remained the largest in Nigeria.
She promised that they would work together in collaboration with the Federal Minister of Health,assuring them that she would play her role of advocacy and resource mobilization to see that the hospital continue to remain in the right track.