The Maiduguri University Teaching Hospital (UMTH) will reopen for basic services on Monday, two weeks after it was closed due to devastating floods in the northeastern state of Borno.
The hospital suffered major water damage and was forced to suspend operations, the hospital’s medical director, Ahmad Ahidjo, told PREMIUM TIMES. However, basic services will resume on Monday.
Maiduguri Teaching Hospital
“We have cleared the water from the hospital and basic services will resume,” said Professor Ahidjo. “We have fumigated the facility and are now assessing the extent of damage to medical equipment.”
The status of some of the hospital's equipment has not yet been determined. The hospital director reiterated that the hospital needs urgent support to return to full operation.
On Monday, Mr Ahidjo said the centre will open its Accident and Emergency Unit, Trauma Centre and all emergency areas. Clinics will also resume their services.
The severe flooding in Maiduguri was caused by the collapse of the Alau Dam, Maiduguri's main source of water. Houses were washed away to the last brick in Gwange and Gamboru areas of the state.
Local authorities are overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster. Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum described the scale of damage in the state as “unimaginable.”
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On Friday, the governor said the state government is ready to do everything possible to assist the teaching hospital. Zulum added that the Maiduguri Teaching Hospital has the most modern medical diagnostic and treatment equipment in the country, so there is a need to assist it.
The floods, which have killed more than 30 people and displaced more than 400,000 in Maiduguri, have exacerbated existing humanitarian crises in the state. More than one million people have been affected by floods so far this year in Nigeria, according to the National Emergency Operations Centre.
Rescue operations continued 13 days later and parts of the city returned to normal as the waters receded.
At the teaching hospital, Ahidjo said the flooding was simply “disastrous” and the losses were “enormous.” He told Newslodgethat the entire teaching hospital was inundated.
“Virtually everything we have on the ground floor is affected.”
It will be difficult to say when activities will resume in laboratories, diagnostic centres, X-ray centres and oncology centres, he said. It all depends on how quickly we can correct the challenges we have identified.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Health Institutions, Amos Magaji, said the House will table a motion for urgent intervention at the Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.
Newslodgehas learnt that the medical equipment at the multi-million dollar Radiotherapy Department was flooded, causing damage to expensive state-of-the-art equipment including two Elekta linear accelerators, two brachytherapy machines and a Canon large-calibre CT simulator.