FMC Umuahia overdue for teaching hospital status, says medical director

Going by the personnel, facilities, available land spaces among others, the Federal Medical Center (FMC) Umuahia Abia state qualifies for upgrading to the status of a teaching hospital says the Medical Director/Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Chuku Abali.

Abali in a chat with journalists in his office said that the 375 bed hospital that serves as referral hospital to people of the South East and South South zones and beyond, parades over 76 Medical Consultants in more than 25 disciplines and stands on 77 acres of land.

He made it known that the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority has chosen to collaborate with FMC under which relationship modern laboratories and Machines will be established and thus complement the ones the Centre already had in place like the CT Scan Machine that gives credible results and an In Vitro Fertilisation (IVE) centre/laboratory that is one of the best in the country.

He claimed that with its state of the art Four Dialysis Centers to which two more are being added to bring the number to six, the FMC Umuahia is the best hospital to manage diabetes.

Adding that though they are yet to commence thoracic surgery, they have three Neuro Surgeons and are establishing partnership with the University of Toledo, United States (U.S.) towards establishing a Kidney Transplant Unit.

“We are subsisting our SAFE system which is identify an area for excellence just as we have deepened our practice on internal medicine such that “ no patient is tied to one doctor/ consultant rather , we operate and manage patients as a team. We do not turn back patients rather than do so, we keep and attend to them on temporary arrangement until bed becomes available.”