By Martins Ilias
The specialty of ear, nose and throat is called Otorhinolaryngology in medical terminology. Over the years, this specialty is rare and unknown even among medical personnel. But with the establishment of National Ear Care Centre (NECC) in 1999, it is now becoming a household among the populace. The centre oversees the training of many consultants, resident doctors, nurses and health workers with special training in ENT field, as well treatment of ENT-related ailments.
From its establishment to date, NECC had two medical directors, namely, Professor Philip Okeowo, who started the ENT operations in Lagos University Teaching Hospital, and Professor Babagana Ahmad, of University of Maiduguri, who moved the centre to Kaduna and served from 2002 to 2013. Dr Solomon Abimuku Labaran also served in an acting capacity for almost a year, before the appointment of the current Medical Director, Dr Aminu Bakari.
Before his appointment, Dr Bakari teamed up with Professor Ahmad, his immediate predecessor, to set up the centre and remained with him for many years, before his brief sojourn to King Khalid Hospital, Hail, Saudi Arabia.
On returning, he transferred his services to Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, in the Surgery Department. As God would have it, he was appointment the MD on July 2014. Since then, Dr Bakari is attaining successes in ENT treatments, operations, training and provisions of relevant equipment to the centre against the rattling of some critics.
First, he made maintenance of services and equipment hitherto provided by his predecessor a cardinal principle and even improved greatly on them. The centre now boasts of renovated wards, operating theatre, laboratories, out-patients department as well as audiology department, while a new 2-storey building is 80 percent completed to serve as research centre. All these feats are achieved during Dr Bakari’s tenure.
It was to the credit of his management that 32 slides CT scan machine was procured and installed, which is not only second functional of its kind in the whole of the Northern region, but have the best high resolution results, for the diagnoses of all ailments. Before its procurement, patients were being referred to Abuja or Kano to diagnose their ailments, but with the vision and professional will of the Bakari’s management, the 32 slides CT machine has simplified and modified the way and manner doctors treat patients of various ailments in this part of the country. Patients from as far as Sokoto state are referred to the centre to diagnose their ailments.
Again, as proactive as it has been since inception, the management committee under Bakari has built a new audiology block which includes two classrooms for technician courses.
It is the first of its kind in the whole Northern region. The first is in the University of Benin. Now, audiology technicians train in the centre, and so far, the first set of students has graduated, while the second set is in session.
Conscious of hygiene, Dr Bakari management has ensured that the whole hospital is kept clean, fresh and tidy. Wards, out-patient department, amenity wards have been renovated with new beddings, drapes, plasma TV, and air conditioners. Going round the hospital, one would think more of it as a private than a government-owned hospital because of high maintenance and new equipment.
“What marvels me is the tidiness of the wards and the operating theatre in the centre. There is no odour or bad smell that hospitals are known for. It is indeed a worth mentioning feat of the centre’s leadership. I commend them,” says an out-patient, Abubakar Sani, who was treated with ENT disease during the visit of this reporter, in an interview.
In that regard, Dr Bakari’s management has ensured the cleanliness of the centre since he took over as medical director. It is to his credit that the hospital is always neat and functional.
Against the backdrop of frequent frosty relationship between the management and workers’ unions in many organizations, the management of Dr Bakari at NECC is having cordial relationship with all the unions, especially the Medical and Health Workers Union in the centre.
Being considerate, Bakari places priority to staff welfare, irrespective of status, so much that, he interacts with all categories of workers – visiting their offices, discussing with them, and always trying to listen and solve their individual and collective complaints. As a result, an atmosphere of harmonious rapport is established, to the dismay of detractors and arm-chair critics. “He is always free to engage staff in discussions, and listen to complaints of staff with a view to solving them,” says a staff in administration department.
In less than two years of his directorship, Dr Bakari has installed solar street lights in all places of the hospital, which creates beautiful scenery, especially at night. It gives a sense of security to patients and illuminates the entire environment. Again, new office furniture and two utility vehicles were procured, in addition to those on ground. Similarly, his management has completed a sterilization unit inherited from the previous management, and it is now fully functional and effectively maintained.
On infrastructure, in less than two years of his stewardship, Bakari has initiated and almost completed a two solid storey building adjacent the administrative department, which is intended upon completion, to serve as a research block.
The ground floor will serve as audiology department, the first floor a surgical research department, while the last floor which is 17 offices will serve as consultant offices. Isn’t this an achievement?
Asked whether NECC under Dr Bakari is meeting up its responsibilities/mandates of training manpower in ENT-related diseases, treat patients with such diseases and coordinate research in the field, the answer is yes. This is because Bakari, being a pioneer doctor in the centre and now medical director and associate professor of medicine with specialty in ENT, has proved his critics and detractors wrong by providing good leadership in the only ENT hospital in Nigeria.
In a nutshell, NECC, under Bakari’s management, is a success story, contrary to what some detractors and people with pull-him-down syndrome want the public to believe. A visit to the centre, which, according to the axiom, seeing is believing, will confirm the standards established in the centre, which is the only one of its kind, not only in this country, but West Africa.
Ilias, a journalist, author and social commentator, wrote from Kaduna.
