We lost N20bn worth of equipment, facilities

From Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri

Chief Medical Director of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), Prof Ahmed Ahidjo has said it has been a challenging task trying to restore over N20 billion worth of medical equipment and facilities damaged by the devastating flood that hit the hospital in September 2024.

In an interview with Saturday Sun, Ahidjo reflected on the disaster that ravaged Maiduguri early September 2024, and submerged major medical facilities, including the multi-million naira Cancer Centre, for almost a week.

The new centre, with modern equipment for treatment of cancer, was commissioned by late President Muhammadu Buhari early 2023.

It’s almost a year that the UMTH was hit by a devastating flood. How far have you gone in getting the hospital back after the September 2024 wreckage?

That was a very sad day for us, a day no one would wish such tragedy should occur again. Nobody ever envisaged that a hospital like this can be flooded. It was an unexpected thing but certain things are destined to happen.

As human beings, we did our best to ensure the facility was protected, but the level of that emergency was beyond our capacity. We’ve heard of natural disasters in other climes like storms that levelled whole cities. We still thank God that our own did not get to such total destruction.

It was a sad Tuesday morning. On the sad day, there were lot of sound, cries and groaning in the neighbourhood. So I rushed to the hospital after receiving several messages and calls on my phone. The water was just at the hospital gate then.

We started mobilising sand bags from various construction sites to block the flood from entering the premises. It was very early; around 4am. Initially, the measure worked but at a point, it was beyond what we could control. The water pushed its way through into the hospital. Our major challenge then were our patients at the ground floors of our facilities; the orthopaedic patients that were on immobilisation devices – they can’t move, they cannot run.

Then we had to face the challenge of moving everybody from the ground floors; patients at the labour ward, the cleaners, security personnel and all such workforce.

The Cancer Centre was also another challenge. We had to rush there to protect the various newly installed machine because of the radiation. By then, everywhere was flooded; the whole hospital was submerged in water and nothing could be done. For the next three days, we were moving things, trying to feed the patients because they were trapped inside. The kitchen couldn’t work, they are downstairs. Everything was static. We were only struggling to salvage anything that could be taken out, moving the doctors, nurses and other health personnel.

Amid this, the UMTH still raised a medical rescue team for the state to provide free medical services to the people. We distributed over 200 medical staff across the city to provide healthcare to the people in collaboration with the State Ministry of Health.

However, some of the damages in the hospital are irreversible.

What is the cost implication of this damage and impact on the hospital services?

The first assessments we did was about N20 billion. Since September 10, 2024, we have been discovering almost on daily basis’ more things; equipment, facilities that were damaged. People are looking at the equipment only. The level of the destruction is enormous. For instance, we just realised that the upsurge in mosquitoes breeding in the hospital in recent time was as a result of the destruction of all the sewage/soak-away pits. People couldn’t notice in time that the sewage facility is damaged, drainages, electrical wiring and computer networking. The EMR is damaged; all the basic infrastructure are affected, including roads – even the one leading to the Chief Medical Director office. All doctors’ quarters are affected. They were submerged by water. The drainages and sewage were damaged. Six operating theatres at the ground floor were affected, all our stores for both medical consumables, offices, laboratories swept off by water.

In terms of medical facilities, the Cancer Centre is the most expensively affected facility in our hospital. Unfortunately, we commenced services in that centre over a year ago. Apparently, it’s a new centre. It is the largest in West Africa. Two Linear Accelerators were damaged beyond repair; the CT Scan machine there is also damaged beyond repair. The Brachytherapy machine is not affected but the whole of the system of networking, connectivity, monitoring are all affected.

When a dollar was N380 to N500, it cost the hospital N1.5 billion to buy the Versa Linear and about N1 billion to buy Elekta Infinity Linear Accelerator (Linear Accelerator (LINAC). With the current rate now, it should be three to four times the amount we bought them then. These are most expensive equipment in any hospital setting. The HD Versa is about N6 billion now and we never had it in Nigeria and it is still not in the country till now. The whole machine in billions, gone like that. It was a devastating experience, very sad for us

Has there been any intervention, support since then to restore or replace some of these damaged equipment and facilities?

The Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Health and some philanthropists, especially Sir Emeka Offor, have come to our aid. When we did the preliminary assessment of the devastation, it was so much that we can’t handle. So we approached the Minister of Health, and we agreed it is better we prioritise and allocate responsibility to some of the stakeholders who are managers of the hospital and agencies of government. Thankfully, the minister accepted and that led to the inclusion of the Cancer Centre in the 2025 Budget; to acquire new HD Versa and to repair the CT Scanner, as we later discovered that repairing it may be difficult.

Also, Sir Emeka Offor donated N1.57 billion as a negotiated price for another Linear Accelerator. We went to the manufacturer to solicit their contribution to give a new machine since it was a natural disaster that damaged the first one. They agreed to give us at 50 per cent current market price. Sir Emeka Ofor paid directly to the company and now, the manufacturer has installed the first Linear. We hope that by the end of next month, we will commission the new Linear and also obtain the CT Scanner so that they can work together. This is because the Linear Machine can’t work itself without the CT Scanner because we need to plan the images and deliver them to the machine.

Does this intervention address the problem of other equipment affected by the flood?

No. The other challenge is our oxygen plant. The hospital had three oxygen plants. All of them were flooded and damaged. One oxygen plant now costs hundreds of million of naira. What we have done for now is that we joined them so that at least one can produce. The other two are just there not working now. We hope to look for funding to restore these oxygen plants.

The next big facility that is affected is the Radiology Department. Radiology is the house of equipmens where we have the CT Scanners, MIR, X-Ray machine and Ultra-sound machine. All of them were affected. We thank the governor of Borno State for the approval and release of N500 million to support the hospital. We used some of this money to restore the damaged radiology equipment. Siemens also supported us by repairing some of the radiology equipment at minimum cost and also provided a new Ultra-Sound machine to the hospital free.

The polio laboratory donated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) is also affected. It is a regional laboratory for polio disease diagnosis. The flood affected almost all the machine: GCR, Sequence machine, so many machines. Thank God that WHO has restored all now, based on our allocations of responsibilities. There is also the physical rehabilitation Centre where we produce prosthetics and Orthotics; artificial limbs to those affected by disabilities. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) came to our rescue, renovated the facility, repaired affected equipment and replaced those that cannot be repaired. The centre is back in operation now.

So what are your expectations now?

We expect support from well-meaning Nigerians, corporate institutions and partners to put the hospital fully back. Let them come to our aid. It is coming to the aid of Nigerian health system because of the level of devastation that took place in Maiduguri and UMTH last year. Those who have the resources should understand that they can access medicare wherever they want but there are many who can’t. This hospital is a saving grace to them and this is why we should be concerned about restoring its facilities to keep health services going.