•Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Enugu, fractured by staff insubordination •CSOs call for FG’s intervention
From Magnus Eze, Enugu
For over a decade, the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Enugu (FNPHE), has been in the news for the wrong reasons. The flickers of hope emerging from the only such institution in the South East are now threatened by conflicts in the place.
Recently, some media platforms were awash with allegations of corruption, highhandedness and closure of the hospital’s school of nursing and mental health by the medical director, Dr. Monday Igwe.
Igwe’s traducers accused him of having shut down the school and travelled to London while the fate of the students hanged in the balance.
However, the medical director has dismissed the allegations against him by some civil society organisations (CSOs) that he was not following the public service rules set out by the Federal Government.
Igwe countered by saying the unsubstantiated and libellous publications against his person were part of the orchestrated campaign sponsored by those seeking positions they are not qualified for in the hospital.
He disclosed that a certain staff had for over 12 years been linked to all crisis that had bedevilled the hospital for reasons best known to him.
Igwe stated that the institution’s School of Post-Basic Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing was never shut down, even after the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) suspended regulatory activities on the school because of the appointment of a new regime in the school.
He explained that the school had full accreditation to train 50 psychiatric nurses per session and could not have admitted 700 students, beyond its quota, as was reported by the attacks in the social media.
He, however, stated that the suspension of regulatory activities by the NMCN was being addressed quickly so that students who were due to write examinations by November could do so.
“We want to state categorically that the said publications are mere imaginations without basis and may have arisen out of hallucinatory experiences of the sponsors who are bent on occupying positions they are not qualified for.
“It started following a letter from the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) dated 26th April, 2023 (a copy is made available), which suspended regulatory activities in our school on the basis of appointment of new headship of the School of Post-Basic Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing without compliance with the council’s regulations for appointment of head of nursing training institutions in Nigeria.
“There was never a time the school was shut down by the medical director, as portrayed in the publications, hence there could not have arisen the issue of directives from Federal Ministry of Health to reopen the school. The school has full accreditation to train 50 psychiatric nurses per session that runs for 18 months. The school cannot admit beyond the quota and one wonders where the said 700 students in the fictitious reports emanated from.
“We are working hard to sort out all pending issues so that the embargo can be lifted. Resolutions were taken in a meeting between the Federal Ministry of Health’s officials, registrar, Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria and medical director, FNPH, Enugu, aimed at addressing issues related to the suspension of activities of NMCN in our school,” Igwe said.
He, however, volunteered that the school’s portal has been shut down while the 2023 admission into the school remained nullified, adding that the hospital would refund every kobo duly paid to the institution for the purposes of this session’s admission.
“We’re working towards lifting the embargo, the students are still there while we work on it.
“We have appointed three persons to act in the interim, from July to December, their names will be submitted to the midwifery council and their period of acting will cover the period of the students’ exams and the students will proceed on a three-week holiday,” Igwe said.
Igwe took over a fractured health institution four years ago and has made efforts to restore the glory of the hospital.
On resumption for his second tenure on April 4, he recalled the turbulence in the federal hospital years ago, expressing joy that it was now a thing of the past.
Investigations showed that the MD, who was recently given a second four-year tenure, has brought to bear an unprecedented infrastructural development in the hospital.
Daily Sun gathered that a group from the Federal Ministry of Health that came to appraise his activities for the first tenure gave him high commendations that warranted the immediate past Minister of State for Health recommending him for a second tenure, which was approved by the President with effect from April 1, 2023.
He listed some of the achievements of his leadership in the first tenure, thus: “The hospital has also made significant breakthroughs recently by recording high number of passes in residency examinations, school of nursing external examinations and winning ECOWAS Commission grant for expansion of its drug rehabilitation project to the tune of N100 million.
“In 2021, the hospital was also rated fifth among all specialist hospitals in Nigeria in ICPC assessment for observation of due process and anti-corruption index.
“The Hospital Community Psychiatric model being put in place is highly commended as it covers the 15 senatorial zones in the South East.”
In the main, an Abuja-based civil rights group, Worried Nigerian Citizens (WNC), has called on the Federal Government, particularly the Federal Ministry of Health, to rein in its staff identified to be frustrating peaceful service delivery at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, and its School of Post-Basic Nursing in Enugu.
The group said it would not be out of place to subject such staff to mental evaluation.
This is as the International Solidarity for Peace and Human Rights Initiative, in alliance with Enugu State Network of Civil Society Organizations (ENSNET) and Coalition of Civil Society Workers and Human Rights Defenders, urged the Federal Ministry of Health to urgently direct the MD, Igwe, to appoint a substantive principal and other principal officers for the school of basic psychiatric nursing.
WNC, in a statement by its executive director, Comrade Moses Idika, in Abuja, said the alleged staff who seemed ‘untouchable’ should no longer be allowed to continue stoking crisis in the federal hospital.
The group wondered what had happened to public service rules that a staff of a government institution would remain a stumbling block in the establishment.
It noted that the leadership of the current medical director had ushered in an era of peace and upliftment in the hospital but lamented that those they referred to “enemies of progress” were hell-bent on destroying the commendable achievements made so far.
Also, ENSNET said it had, after painstaking investigation, discovered that the headship of the school of nursing was at the centre of the orchestrated negative publications on the institution in the social media.
The group, which said it would soon make its report on what led to the suspension of regulatory activities in the school by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria public, urged government to be decisive in its intervention.
“We are investigating the objective situation in details regarding this development and will make our report known to you and the members of the public in earnest.
“Consequently, we are urging you not to initiate the suspension of the MD of the hospital based on the prompting of the alleged petition of some persons acting in the guise of CSOs without thorough and a comprehensive investigation and hearing from all the parties involved and all the stakeholders in the school, including the trade union groups in the hospital,” the group prayed the SGF.
“We are also asking that permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health should mandate the chief medical director of the hospital to as a matter of urgency advertise and appoint a qualified substantive principal for the School of Nursing, since our preliminary findings indicate that the reason for the suspension of academic activities in the school was as a result of the fact that the school is being headed as principal by somebody without the required academic and experience requirements,” they said.
The petition to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. George Akume, was signed by president of the network, Comrade Osmond Ugwu, executive director of RED-Foundation, Comrade Ugonna Ozor, and Comrade Chukwudi Aniachuna, secretary, Coalition of Civil Society Workers and Human Rights Defenders.
Igwe, on resumption of office for his second tenure on April 5, noted the turbulence in the federal hospital years ago, expressing joy that it was now a thing of the past. Little did he know that the ‘hawks’ were still lurking around.
“This hospital is the only psychiatric facility in the entire South East region. It is also the only facility that is made to train doctors and nurses in psychiatry. It is also the only facility that offers research in terms of mental health in the South East. It is also our mandate to give clinical services to people that have mental illnesses.
“The hospital also is available for the people of South-South and some parts of North-Central region of the country. So, if we don’t do well, we will be leaving Nigerians to suffer. That’s why we want to make this place the best and a centre of excellence in mental health practice.
“There are a number of ways to actualize this. Since many people live very far from Enugu State, we want to make sure that our 15 new outposts in South East are operational.
“We have ensured that each of the 15 senatorial districts in the South East has one outpost. We have successfully completed and equipped nine of the outposts, while the rest are still ongoing.
“Those ones we have completed are going to be activated. We are going to post our staff there,” he said of his vision for the hospital.
Regardless, dispassionate stakeholders wonder why any sane person would not want the institution to flourish, even as Igwe has vowed that the management would not be distracted by the antics of a particular staff of the place.