By Peter Amine
The Medical Director, Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Makurdi, Prof. Joseph Kortor, has lauded medical consultants for surmounting increasing patient loads, resource constraints and infrastructural issues to deliver quality healthcare services.
Kortor gave the commendation on Thursday in Makurdi at the annual scientific conference organised by the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), FMC Makurdi Branch.
The MD said that consultants remained the pillars upon which the hospital’s reputation and performance was still standing.
He stated that their dedication, professionalism and resilience, often under very challenging circumstances, have continued to keep the hospital functioning effectively and delivering quality care to its patients.
“The management of the hospital recognises your efforts and sacrifices, and I say a big thank you to you all.
“The past year has been one of both challenges and achievements. We have witnessed increasing patient loads, resource constraints, and infrastructural limitations, yet you have continued to uphold the highest standards of care.
“As an institution, we have also made some modest progress, ranging from efforts to improve hospital facilities, drugs and other pharmaceutical products, revenue generation, staff training and so on.
“As a medical director, I have a front seat to the challenges that face tertiary institutions: the chronic shortfall in skilled human resources, under-equipped facilities, and a widening gap between what we ideally should offer and what we can deliver under current constraints.
“Today, most tertiary hospitals struggle to retain consultants, subspecialists and allied health professionals due to brain drain,” he said.
Kortor stated that, even when personnel exist, not all were equipped with the latest subspeciality skills or exposure to cutting-edge techniques.
The MD emphasised that continuous medical education, subspeciality fellowship and hands-on training were limited by funding and time constraints.
“A tertiary hospital must have advanced diagnostic imaging laboratory capacity, intensive care units, hybrid theatres, minimally invasive surgical tools, electronic health records and so on. We lag behind in these crucial investments.
“Grants and purposeful collaborations can become transformative levers to close those gaps. Grants supply the capital – the financial resources to invest in infrastructure, training, research and capacity building.
“Collaboration ensures that grant resources are maximised, sustained and applied judiciously.
“I urge that we commit not just in words but in structured actions to making grants and collaboration central to our hospital development strategy,” he charged.
MDCAN Chairman, FMC Makurdi Branch, Dr Iorfa Tor-Anyiin said that the theme for this conference, ‘Grants and Collaborations: A Means Of Bridging Manpower, Skill And Infrastructural Gaps in Tertiary Hospitals’, spoke directly to the needs of an institution such as FMC Makurdi.
Tor-Anyiin said that the aim was to enlighten the participants on how to maximise grants and collaborations in bridging the gaps which manpower, skill and infrastructural deficits cause.
“Furthermore, the 2nd Dr Samuel Tor-Agbidye lecture (first medical director of FMC Makurdi) aims to smooth the rough edges of our relationships as health workers in this institution and beyond.
“This conference also gives us an opportunity to brainstorm, learn and challenge one another with our research findings.
“It provides a platform where we can break down our interdisciplinary rivalry and see each other as a health worker and/or researcher.
“Leading the discussion on the themes of the conference this year are two astute doctors with wide-ranging experiences,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Prof. Pricilla Utoo, a public health physician, who herself has drawn grants to the Rev. Fr Moses Orshio Adasu University Teaching Hospital, was the keynote speaker.
NAN also reports that Dr Nwaeze Chukwuemeka, a Family Physician and project manager delivered the Dr Tor-Agbidye Lecture. NAN
