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Medical equipment from Estevan benefits people in Nigeria

Medical equipment that was donated by St. Joseph’s Hospital in Estevan is benefitting residents of northeast Nigeria. The equipment was sent to the Federal Medical Centre in Yola, which is in the African country’s Adamawa state.
Nigeria pic
Medical equipment that was donated to a health facility in Nigeria by St. Joseph’s Hospital is unloaded from a crate. The equipment has already benefitted people in the African country. Photo submitted.

Medical equipment that was donated by St. Joseph’s Hospital in Estevan is benefitting residents of northeast Nigeria.

The equipment was sent to the Federal Medical Centre in Yola, which is in the African country’s Adamawa state. Two anesthetic machines, two operating room tables, a delivery room bed, an intensive care unit table, an x-ray delivery room machine and a physician examination table were shipped late last year.

While it was older equipment that had been previously replaced at the hospital, it was still in good working condition, and thus able to be used in Nigeria.

St. Joseph’s Hospital executive director Greg Hoffort and local physician Dr. Charles Omosigho said the medical centre wanted people in Estevan to understand the difference the equipment has made.

“They have forwarded some correspondence to Dr. Omosigho and myself, expressing their extreme gratitude,” said St. Joseph’s Hospital executive director Greg Hoffort. “They have sent some pictures of themselves unloading the equipment, and video … as well as some thank you speeches.”

Dr. Ibrahim Dodo, a family physician in Nanaimo, B.C., who worked with Omosigho in the U.K., was also involved with the project.

Omosigho said he believed the equipment deserved a better fate than collecting dust in storage, and he knew some people who would benefit from it.

“I travelled to Nigeria in the summer of 2015 with a group of people, and they showed some interest,” said Omosigho. “Unfortunately that group didn’t meet their commitment in terms of having to pay for the shipping.”

Omosigho reached out to Dodo, who goes to Nigeria to do free surgical clinics and operations once or twice a year.

Hoffort noted that if they were to try to trade in the equipment, they would get very little, if anything for it.

“We’re just thrilled we’re able to send it somewhere where they’re actually going to use it, and bring value,” said Hoffort.

Omosigho agreed the equipment was desperately needed.

“I’m sure for the next 10 years, this equipment will still be doing great work in that place,” said Omosigho. 

In a letter to Hoffort and Omosigho, Professor Awal Muhammad Abubakar, a medical director, noted the technology was well packaged and arrived in good shape.

“The efforts were suggestive of your personal kindness to humanity and your commitment to help others, thousands of miles away from home, and (are) indicative of social responsibility,” Abubakar wrote.

The crates were first built and then packed with the medical equipment by volunteers from the Rural Municipality of Benson, including the municipalities’ employees and councillors. If it wasn’t packaged properly, it wouldn’t have arrived in usable condition.

Hoffort and Omosigho noted the equipment was lifted into the crate via a forklift before it left Canada, but once it arrived in Nigeria, it was removed by eight people. It was sent by container ship to Nigeria under the auspices of African Hands, a group of doctors and other health-care professionals who set out to provide materials and services to Africa.

The equipment was received on May 26, and quickly proved to be a valuable addition to the centre.

“Our members of staff are equally highly excited and motivated with the arrival of these items, as it makes their work less stressful, much more enjoyable and fulfilling,” Abubakar wrote. “We still strive relentlessly to maintain this equipment in good working order, hopefully, for a very long time.”

The hospital is not only the largest referral hub in Adamawa state, but in all of northeast Nigeria, and they serve a population of more than 9.8 million people. People from Cameroon also access the centre.

Abubakar noted its delivery of services has been hurt by insurgency that has caused immeasurable casualties.

“The donation is, to say the least, a huge boost to our capacity to effectively manage many complicated medical and surgical cases, including victims of bomb blasts from ongoing insurgency,” Abubakar said.

Abubakar expressed interest in co-operating with St. Joseph’s again in the future, and invited them to see their facility in Yola, so they can witness how the equipment is helping people in northeast Nigeria.

Omosigho and Hoffort recognize a visit to the country would be a wonderful opportunity to see how it’s helping people in Nigeria.