By Romanus Ugwu
But for the signpost announcing the location destination, out-patients and visitors to the Kuje General Hospital in Kuje Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) could have easily mistaken it for an entirely different place.
The old and prospective patients of the 18-year-old government-owned hospital can now heave a sigh of relief about getting quality medical attention in a very serene atmosphere.
The hospital, which could previously be mistaken for a clinic, now wears an entirely different look. The surroundings hitherto very untidy and bushy are now neatly tidied up. The newly painted walls now give the hospital an attractive facelift.
The renovated male and female conveniences are now beautiful sights to behold, contrary to the previous offensive situation and even the unpainted post-natal block ward now a wholesome look. The entire compound has been made very inviting and descent, deserving of a hospital environment.
However, the effort was not the result of the statutory responsibilities of government, the owner of the hospital. It was the outcome of the humanitarian gesture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The church, through its philanthropic programmes, did not only renovate the general hospital but also purchased theatre table and other essential hospital equipment.
As early as 6am last week, hundreds of the church members embarked on thorough cleaning exercise inside and outside the hospital premises. The activities climaxed with the inspection of the renovated facilities and formal handing over of the hospital equipment to the management.
Although the church authorities insisted they would not go against the policy and disclose the amount expended in carrying out the project, the funds used for the renovation and purchase of equipment obviously ran into millions of naira.
While the church urged the hospital to judiciously use the equipment for the benefit of the patients and mankind, the hospital management charged government and other well-to-do Nigerians to help upgrade and expand the hospital to meet up with the increasing health demands of residents of Kuje Area Council.
Expression of appreciation by the hospital
For the management, staff and patients of Kuje General Hospital, the intervention from the Church of Jesus Christ would not have come at a better time than now. The toilets in particular were in a deplorable condition, just as usage and the passage of time had taken serious tolls on the structures of the hospital.
Reacting to the charitable gesture, the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital, Dr. (Mrs.) Tarbunde Egbi, argued that though the situation was not that bad, the intervention would provide the needed succour to keep the hospital up and running.
Her words: “The equipment provided by the church are for augmentation. We have equipment to work with but when forms of humanity provide things like these, they will be helping hands. Like now, they gave us new theatre table, new suction machine and oxygen concentrated, they will augment the ones we already have.
“These backup gives us room for repairs. We don’t want a situation where something will go bad and ground activities in the hospital completely. We are happy with what they have done because they would provide the needed backup for us and reduce the level of wear and tear in the hospital. I am very grateful.”
The CMD said the equipment could not be quantify “because it is not within my purview to buy them. But in terms of human life, I know that everything they provided would save life and improve the working condition of the staff of this hospital. If we have lots of manpower on ground but don’t have equipment, it won’t work.”
However, she said that another pressing need of the hospital would be expansion, stressing that, “The request I want to make is certainly not within their reach. But I would say that this hospital needs expansion. With the population explosion in this area council, Kuje surely needs a bigger hospital.
“Having served the residents in the past 18 years, the hospital ought to be bigger than this now. With the concentration of many schools, many estates here and the proximity to the international airport, there is no doubt that Kuje should have something close to the hospital in Gwagwalada. Kuje General Hospital needs expansion.”
Church promises to do more
The completion of the renovation project at the Kuje General Hospital brings to three the total number of humanitarian projects the church has executed this year in the FCT alone.
Speaking after formally handing over the hospital equipment, the Stake President, Abuja, Edima Okon Oko-Ukpong, said, “ “The CMD confessed that she was highly impressed and specifically said that the church has done far more than what she requested for. So, if the direct beneficiaries feel that we did a very good job, I also strongly believe that the work is good.”
The spirit behind the humanitarian gesture
In a country where many churches are more concerned about the welfare and wellbeing of the leadership of the church, what really motivated the Church of Jesus Christ to touch human life?
Waxing spiritual, Edima Okon said: “The Good Book says that Jesus Christ went about giving services without requesting for any payment. As His servants here on earth, we are duty-bound to do what He did without demanding for any favour.
“The earliest charity of the church, set up specifically for that, does extremely very little for the church members. More than 95 per cent of what they do is for mankind, provided it is for humanity.”
Other humanitarian activities the church executed
Enumerating other charitable activities by the church, he said: “Recently, we executed important projects in two Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in Abuja. Following the complaint of constant robbery attacks at night in the IDPs because one of the camps was in total darkness, we had to install solar panels to light up the camp.
“We also powered the water pumping machine to ensure constant supply of water in the camp. We also provided medical facilities and food items to them. We supplied tents, medical supplies and food materials to the other IDPs camp. The renovation of Kuje General Hospital is the third in the humanitarian services we have carried out this year alone.
“Every year, we set aside funds for charitable activities. We have always been the first organisation to respond to natural disaster around the world because the funds are there. We do that without undue publicity in line with the Biblical directive not to alloy our left hand know what our right hand is doing.
“In a nutshell, what we witnessed today was the climax of the services the church renders to humanities in the Africa continent. We have mobilised over 520,000 adults to provide three hours of services around the country like clearing, road repairs and rendering helping hands at public institutions, markets and hospital,” he noted.
How the church arrived at renovating Kuje hospital
The chairman of the Church’s Area Welfare Specialist, Chidi Ibeakuzie, said that his office gets hundreds and thousands of such requests but ‘treat them according their merits’.
“We will verify the requests before the approval. As I speak now, there are about five other requests in Abuja alone ranging from hospital to public institutions renovation awaiting our consideration.
“On inspection, we saw the hospital in a dilapidated situation, lacking essential equipment with an untidy environment. The hospital was in a very bad shape. We decided that it won’t be ideal to just donate hospital equipment without renovating the hospital.
“We partnered with them for five months resulting in the painting of all the exterior and some interior of the hospital complex, renovating the conveniences, and purchasing some essential hospital equipment like theatre table, surgical equipment among others that can have direct impact on the patients.
“In summary, we separated their needs from their wants and ensured that everything we did was actually what the hospital needs,” Ibeakuzie said.