As Dr. Joseph Ugboaja, the Chief Medical Director of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital Anambra is being honored with a Thomas Sankara prize for excellence as Pan African Icon of Healthcare Renaissance.

On February 1st 2023, Dr. Joseph Ugboaja the Chief Medical Director of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH) Nnewi, Anambra State Nigeria will be conferred with the prestigious Thomas Sankara Prize for Excellence as Pan African Icon of Healthcare Renaissance.

This award is coming on the heels of many other awards including the recent award on Visionary leadership by the Medical & Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), NAUTH Chapter.

Looking at the trajectory of development in the hospital and it’s impact on the people since Dr. Ugboaja Joseph assumed office barely eighteen (18) months ago, one could locate with precision the rationale and import of this particular award, especially coming from YOUPAD – a reputable Pan African youth advocacy group.

In the face of dwindling government funding, increasing operational costs due to rising inflation and reducing capacity of the people to pay for health services, Dr. Ugboaja Joseph and his team has mustered a mind-blowing degree of infrastructural development at the permanent site of the hospital; a hitherto abandoned site.

He has started and completed so many magnificent structures and many others are in progress. The 21st century healthcare system in most African countries, including Nigeria leaves much to be desired. As a result, almost all the indices of health assessment are poor.

These youthful leaders have come to demonstrate actively that there is every need to engage youthful professionals with requisite academic and practical skills to address the myriads of issues bordering on health challenges facing Africa as a continent. The need for the participation of young professionals in driving this process as opposed to the status quo cannot be overemphasised.

More so, it is a well-known fact that the health care indices for most African nations are outrightly poor and this has robbed off terribly on the development of African nations. The poor implementation of well-scripted policies by health administrators in the continent has also not helped to achieve a wide and full health coverage for the African population.

Various issues face the African health care system which includes but are not limited to; high maternal mortality, poor access to care by cancer patients, extremely low life expectancy, poor health insurance coverage for citizens, poor availability of medical diagnostic services and poor health care funding to enable the building of functional healthcare infrastructure, are some of the hydra headed monsters that youthful and efficiently skilled leadership in the health sector can address.

The above is what YOUPAD has come to acknowledge Dr. Joseph Ugboaja for. Indeed, the ebullient and energetic Chief Medical Director is giving in all he can alongside his team to transform the system.

The Thomas Sankara Prize of excellence by YOUPAD is an uncommon award issued to a few selected deserving individuals, as an acknowledgement of the roles these individuals have played in transforming the health sector in Africa. This recognition is mainly for young, innovative, disruptive leaders who are effectively building functional systems.

Dr. Joseph Ugboaja within his wide scope of influence as a Health Administrator has shown through sheer dint of hardwork that his approach to solving the health needs of the Nigerian population is one being executed with a continental approach.

The young, dynamic 21st century distinguished leader in the health care sector space has come to be known as a phenomenal leader whose goals and visions are well spelt out for every member of his team and the institution at large. This goal is to lead the institution he is in charge of to be one of the first five (5) tertiary health care facilities in Nigeria by 2030.

The goal is to build a system where partnerships with other African based health care institutions that matter, would be initiated with the aim of serving many other African nations as the years go by through exchange of skilled staff, services and programmes.

The Chief Medical Director has actively engaged policy makers, political office holders and distinguished private sector players with the sole aim of making sure that they reign in their various influences to make sure that the dream of having a #NewNAUTH that works for all, where healthcare is accessed with the most of ease irrespective of where the client comes from is achieved. This is in line with what the Thomas Sinkara Prize for excellence stands for.

The fact that Dr. Ugboaja Joseph is continental in his approach to solving the myriads of health care service challenges bedevilling the system is why a hitherto not basically developed permanent site of the hospital prior to the tenure of the Chief Medical Director has become one huge and massive construction site, where new facilities are being erected daily with the ultimate aim of providing a state-of-the-art building infrastructure for the Medical city.

The team's deployment of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) technology at the permanent site is aimed at ensuring that the services are prompt, effective, seamless, reproducible and reliable. This electronic platform also helps the Administrators to monitor the effectiveness of the system closely without much ado.

The list of critical areas of the hospital where the young, ebullient and goal-oriented Administrator per excellence has stamped his mark are inexhaustive but for the sake of this piece, let me not bore you with mentioning them.

Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso was a distinguished African leader of his time with a remarkable military background laced with excellence achieved by a youthful leader who led his people in a distinguished manner that is still being talked about today by scholars like Professor PLO Lumumba world over.

This prize of excellence on youthful leadership being conferred on the Chief Medical Director of NAUTH remains a well deserved one as it is an acknowledgement of all that this young African health care administrator is doing with his team to address the yawning gaps in health care service delivery within the African continent within the scope of the limited resources available.

Finally, with men of Dr. Joseph Ugboaja stature in the health sector, we are most
assured that it would just take some time for the tide to turn for good for Africa's health sector.

Okeh, Onyekachi
Media Assistant to the CMD.

#ochinanwataeffect #josephugboaja #DisruptiveLeadership #NewNAUTH