‘People Volunteering With Us Should Know They’re Saving Lives’

Australia-based, Prof Ezekiel Uba Nwose, is a rare Nigerian who has been facilitating medical missions in Nigeria. With support from Novena University and a few others, his mission recently impacted several rural Nigerian communities, details of which he shares in this interview conducted by CAMI EZENWA & ROWENA CHUKUKA

We are aware that you just concluded a medical mission that touched communities in different parts of Nigeria; where are when did these take place?

Yes, the events were held in commemoration of the World Diabetes Day (WDD) at 11 different sites in the country. These included four research performance sites in Delta, three rural communities in Ndokwa particularly, which happens to be my local government area of origin, and also in four other locations outside Delta State.

The four research performance centres where these happened included the Catholic Hospital Abbi (CHA), facilitated by Chief Solomon Egwenu and Isaac Ishiekwene; the Novena University Health Centre, which was facilitated by Dr Mrs Helen Chime; Donak Hospital Kwale, facilitated by Dr Ken Aninze (MD) and Dr Mrs Helen Chime, as well as Eku Baptist Government hospital (EBGH) where Dr Eferhire Aganbi, Edmond Anowa, Emmanuel Agege and Emmanuel Olu-Ero were on hand to facilitate.

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The Ndokwa communities of Kwale, Utagba-Unor, and the Primary healthcare centre in Afor also hosted the mission, and in charge at those facilities were nurses Mrs Doris Osai Mrs Patricia Ossaig; nursing matron, Eunice Analuwe as well as Mr Fred Okwuezolu respectively.

Like I said, it was not only the Delta areas that benefitted from the impactful medical mission – the  Agbere town hall, Sagbama Local Government Area, Bayelsa served as a centre just like the Primary healthcare centre, Shongom LGA, Gombe State, the PHC Nasarawa in Ganjuwa LGA of Bauchi as well as the Primary healthcare centre (Bolori 1 Clinic), Maiduguri, Borno State

Some of the facilitators included Dr Joseph Odoko, Dr Ahmed Garba, Dr Ibrahim Mijinyawa and by Mr Franco Apiyanteida

Quite impressive, one would say, but some people would like to know what motivated your holding such an impactful medical mission?

Many factors, but first and foremost, the WDD is an international annual event which presents enormous opportunity to address pertinent health issues. Thus, the initial lead was the International Diabetes Federation (IDF).

Second was my primary healthcare interest, which led me into organising this at rural communities, which as you know, could be very vulnerable to health conditions like diabetes. Those are the motivations

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Also, some people may be aware that this is not the first time that I am embarking on this kind of programme; the difference with this one is that it isspecifically a public health promotion lecture focused on the theme of IDF

The target is diabetes, the reason being that it a World Diabetes Day

Could you please give us an idea on the level of participation at those centres? In other words, are you satisfied with the level of attendance?

About three hundred and sixty-five attendees, comprising 286 community members and 79 healthcare personnel participated. The latter includes 23 volunteers who are academic staff as well as past and present postgraduate students of Public Health Department of the Novena University. With every sense of modesty, this is something.

How about the reception of the communities where the medical mission held; are you satisfied?

Pretty very encouraging. At Bayelsa State, some elders volunteered unsolicited transport money for attendees as well as cost of the diabetes screening tests. At the Catholic hospital Abbi, traditional chiefs were delegated to attend

Obviously, you would want to extend the medical intervention to more communities; can you throw more light on this?

Yes. We intend to make the call for volunteers early enough in order to enable more people to sort out their availabilities and also for us to arrange required facilities and resources.

The agenda is to advance the fact that whoever volunteers to work with us is volunteering to serve her/his own immediate relatives and community, not another person. This understanding will help future editions of the mission.

We are aware that you have been implementing the medical mission in collaboration with some other bodies; which are major funders of this particular one?

Major bodies which provided support are the Global Medical Research & Development Organisation (GMRDO) and Novena University. Worthy of mention also are the Catholic Hospital Abbi and Donak Hospital Kwale. Another body worthy of mention is IDF supporting our ‘Intensive Peer Education’ BRIDGES2 project; in fact, it is important to stress that this particular one is not funded.

Share with us the particular experiences/lessons implementing the programme have availed you, and what your expectations from the relevant government agencies in the areas are?

Recall my expression in a previous interview about primary health care centres scattered all over the place but with people not valuing them; so much so that they do not go there.

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And because they do not patronise these centres, the people that are employed to work there are not rendering as much service as they are supposed to. By implication, the feedback to the government is hampered.

So, the impression that goes round is that “the government is not doing enough.” But it is not the fault of the government per se. It is something that requires behavioural change of the community members, the workers, government and the ministry of health. One thing that clearly came out of this event is the response to my one-time WhatsApp call; it resulted in 23 volunteers recruiting further colleagues of theirs and reaching out to 286 persons in their various communities.

To the second part of your question, my expectations from relevant government agencies in the areas is improvement in primary healthcare services in the future including the communities appropriating the facilities at their disposal.

Looking back, to what extent has the purpose of holding these medical missions been realised?

I will say that the impact has been quite significant. The GMRDO project started off at Abbi in Ndokwa West LGA of Delta; now, it has reached rural communities in Bayelsa and Gombe states.

Would you want to share with us, what is the total cost of administering the outreaches?

I cannot really quantify the cost accurately, for instance, cost in terms of all the 23 personnel who facilitated the WDD event, nor did we pay for spaces used for the public lectures. The doctors at Catholic Hospital Abbi and Donak Hospital Kwale are equally not paid for their consultations, which would normally be heavy.

What other information of relevance would you want to talk about?

This year’s awareness campaign on diabetes is themed ‘Nurses make the difference’ and touches on everyone. I emphasise Governmentsto increase funding for nursing education. Hospital managers also need to upgrade in sponsoring their staff nurses on continuous professional development, especially in diabetes care. Nurses on their own, also, need to recognise ‘Diabetes Education’ as a valid area of specialisation and do self-motivation for the benefit of their communities.

People living with diabetes need to maintain and continually update their knowledge of diabetes self-management, including appreciating the relevance of peer-education and adherence to medical advice and lifestyle changes.

Also, family members of patients need to advance their knowledge of psychosocial support in diabetes self-management including cooperation in adjustments to family food choices and cooking options. Another fallout from the programme is the need to regularly check oneself because 50 per cent DM in adults are undiagnosed.

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Lastly, I think school leavers/youths, especially the unemployed amongst them, need to recognise a nursing career as a valid career choice to consider.

Thank you, Sir, for your time, and we wish you more days impacting the Nigerian health sector with your medical mission.

Thank you for the opportunity.