2 years after.....part 6

Dr John Ahukannah: thinking outside the box to deliver on healthcare

If you watched and listened to the presentation of UK based medical practitioner turned Abia State Commissioner for Health, Dr John Gozie Ahukannah, one key phrase will jump out: "thinking outside the box".

Sample: Abia state has more than 290 primary healthcare clinics (PHC) located in the rural areas of the state. Not enough medical doctors are willing to work at rural hospitals and clinics but there are challenges that the nurses that mostly man primary healthcare centers cannot handle. In response Dr Ahukanna commenced telemedicine and internet linked video consulting to actively link the centers to the nearest secondary or tertiary healthcare facility where a qualified doctor will be available to consult on real time basis and guide the Centre staff while Ambulances that are fully equipped to treat patients enroute tertiary healthcare centers are dispatched to the location with qualified personnel that will pick up the patient, perform basic stabilization techniques, communicate actively with emergency room doctors and deliver the patient into the waiting hands of qualified medical personnel at Umuahia or Aba.

Bottom line: Abia life saved.

Ana akukwadi aka na Facebook?

Pictures attached will show you the inside of the new ambulances belonging to Abia State medical emergency services (Abia EMS) led by another highly experienced US based medical doctor, Dr Emeka Nwakanma.

Abia State Emergency Medical Services are to be accessed via international emergency pilot code, 112, because of the partnership between Nigeria Communication Commision (NCC) and Abia State Government. The range of emergency services include Medical, fire, road safety and security emergencies.

Objective is simple: wherever you are in Abia State you can call 112 toll free and within 5 minutes help will arrive.

In addition to the ambulances belonging to Abia EMS the state has long deployed accident victims evacuation ambulances belonging to the Chief Kingsley Megwara led Abia State integrated passenger manifest and safety scheme (ASPIMSS) and they are scattered across the state at strategic locations.

Again, through support from MTN Foundation, Dr Ahukanna's ministry of health has taken delivery of a Mobile clinic from MTN that regularly visits rural locations to deliver healthcare to our people at NO COST. Similarly, Abians in USA recently facilitated the donation of mobility equipments worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to physically challenged persons through the advocacy of Dr Ahukannah with backing from the wife of the Governor, Deaconnesss Nkechi Ikpeazu and her Vicar Hope Foundation. Those who joined the governor on his recent "thank you" tour to LGAs must have noticed that at each stop he Commisioned and distributed the equipment pictured here to excited physically challenged Abians, some of whom lost their limbs during the Biafra war days.

One observation I made personally is that all those managing ministries related to Governor Ikpeazu's 5 development pillars (Agriculture, road infrastructure, education and health, SME, oil and gas) were carefully selected because of their capacity to cut through bureaucratic red tapes and innovate to deliver excellent performances. They have not disappointed, to the best of my knowledge.

For those who prefer itemized achievements, I doubt if I can list out all the achievements of the Honorable Commissioner for health in one article. Even he was only able to present on 32 of his 65 slides within the allocated time and yet rapturous cheers followed him off the stage to the satisfaction of his lovely wife who remains his number one fan and pillar.

Permit me to only try listing those achievements I personally consider products of thinking outside the box.

-He implemented WHO/FMOH model of one primary health care (PHC) per political ward.
-Primary Healthcare under one roof (PHCUOR) almost achieved on his watch.
-BHCPF beneficiary pilot state status attracting N1.5bn(July 2017)
-N100 million counterpart funding for BHCPF in place
-Save One Million Lives program for results about to be implemented in Abia
-Abia State Tele-Health Initiative (ASTHI) in 4th month of pilot in 15 PHCs
-Integrated Community Case Management(ICCM) of the 3 childhood killer diseases of malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia being anchored by Society for family Health(on behalf of WHO/Canadian Govt) progressing
-MTN Foundation funding 2 PHCs in their new program “what we can do together campaign” in Ikwuano and Arochukwu LGAs

If you think Dr Ahukannah is only focusing on primary health care, just wait and read what he is doing at secondary and tertiary levels.

-Re-organisation with new board and management at HMB
-4 nos. brand new maternal and child wards built by MTN-Foundation at Okpuala Ngwa, Owaza, ABSUTH and Abia Specialist Hospital in Amachara
-Ongoing operationalisation of 4 brand new general hospitals in Arochukwu, Obingwa, Ikwuano & Okeikpe. Already Gen Hospital Obingwa opened with remaining 3 awaited
-Streamlined medical missions in Abia State (in line with National Guidelines)

And with tertiary healthcare his scorecard reads like this:

-Newly re-furbished maternal and Children’s building in ABSUTH
-New PPP arrangement in procuring cutting-edge medical equipment in ABSUTH
-Re-Accreditation of Undergraduate medical training for new doctors in ABSUTH
-Accreditation of post-graduate training schools in Obs & Gynae, surgery and paediatrics loading.

As if those are not enough achievements, under 2 years, as Commissioner, see other programs and projects of the Member of British Society for Endocrinology, UK:

He supervised Medical equipment shipment by MEDSHARE and on his watch Abia recorded improved Health Indicators compared with other states and national averages (charts available from WHO).

That wonderful stat must have been one of the considerations of the Federal Ministry of Health that informed the hosting of the 59th National Council on Health meeting of the 36 states of the federation in Abia State earlier this year.
They came, they saw and they applauded.

One key success secret of Dr Ahukannah at the Ministry of health is his extensive diasporan engagements that helped him to fund and/or establish critical projects using community collaboration aimed at reversing medical tourism while also contributing to the state's IGR.

Plans are already in motion for the establishment of Obuaku Medical city through The Hospital Company. East coast medical group is on course with the establishment of Organ Transplant Center at the General Hospital Aba while Capital Health Surgical Group is anchoring the Urgent Care Center at Amachara Specialist Hospital Umuahia.

Aside from working with community groups like ACIU North America to establish the medical facility at Abiriba, Dr Ahukannah has engaged blue chip companies to support better health care delivery. Just recently, the state signed an MOU with Nestlé Plc owned Nestlé Nutrition Institute in Africa for capacity building of our health workers in Infant Nutrition and Maternal Care services.

While I surely have not captured up to 60% of what Dr Ahukannah has achieved in the ministry, permit me to also highlight a few of his going forward programs already in the cooking pot.

1. Abia state health insurance scheme (Abia HIS) will be completely rolled out this year. Meaning our people participating in the program will have "OkezieCare" that will be expanded progressively.
2. Abia is building a special isolation Centre for highly infectious diseases like Ebola. The state cannot afford to be caught off guard today or in future. Thankfully we did not record any incidence of Ebola or meningitis yet as a state led by high quality people at all levels, we must prepare and be ready for eventualities.

3. He is set to pioneer the establishment of a "Hospital Management Information System HMIS" using ABSUTH and Abia Specialist Hospital Umuahia as pilot. Meaning that your medical records, hospital card etc will all be computerized and once you arrive medical personnel won't ask for card or past history. Your fingertip, for instance, will be enough to tell your medical story and enable proper medical treatment.

4. He is also beginning the implementation of the Obuaku Medical City roadmap within the last quarter of this year as he is expected to conclude MOU with The Hospital Company with respect to Obuaku medical city, modeled after Dubai medical city.

As you can see from some of his listed achievements in the past 2 years, Dr Ahukannah simply did not follow the traditional models of leading the ministry of health, he generated solutions outside the traditional box hitherto operating in that ministry. That makes him our superstar.

He did not wait for resources before kicking off his work, he generated resources through working with donor institutions and ensured that whatever the government provided was invested in achieving sustainable and bankable outcomes.

If you ask me, his record of service so far confirms that Governor Ikpeazu sure know how to choose the best fit for available jobs. Politics apart.

JOK