Dominic Ukpong, medical
doctor and Commissioner for Health, Akwa Ibom State, in this interview with IDONGESIT
ASHAMERI, explains issues surrounding the recent closure of Ibom
Multi-Specialty Hospital in Uyo. Excerpts:
Why
was the Ibom Multi-specialty Hospital in Uyo?
The
State government was not running the hospital, but it was being run by
Cardiocare Medical Services Limited. Cardiocare Medical Services Limited
had an agreement with the State government to run the
hospital. However, Cardiocare Medical Services decided to terminate its
services.
Was
the state government indebted to the company?
To
the best of my knowledge, government did the best it could even beyond
what was expected of government, to support them in accordance with the
agreement.
About
July this year, at the instance of the Senate minority leader and the former
governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, we had a meeting with their top
management, on behalf of the State government, the State Attorney General and
the top officer in the Foreign Direct Investment office.
In
that meeting, we reviewed what they have been doing. It was agreed that we were
not satisfied with the way the hospital was run, but they complained that they
did not have money and I challenged them, insisting that the State government
has been giving them money.
Could
you give details of the State government’s meeting and discussion with the
company?
Before
we left the last meeting, we agreed to jointly draft a new Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) on how to run the place because the implementation of the
former MoU failed because of economic recession in the country.
So we
agreed to come up with a new MoU that is workable so that the hospital could
function properly. They did not object to a new MoU. We also had the money to
pay them in addition to a proposal for a new MoU.
However
they requested, ‘We’ll like to scale down our activities in the hospital in
view of the economic crunch’. So I said to them, ‘I want to have a clear
definition of what you mean by scaling down activities.
‘I
want to have it in writing, what services you will be providing, so that if we
want to give information to people, we can tell them these services are
available. Let me know by writing the level of scaling down that you are going
to make.
So we
rose from that meeting only for me to receive their letter carefully excluding
the aspect of the MoU that was proposed. They did come up with a proposal as
was agreed, they did not send me their price list, and they did not send me
their description of how they were scaling down activities since that time.
When I visited the place months afterwards, I found out that the compound was
still unkempt and the grasses were still grown.
A few
days later I saw a letter dated September 21, where they stated that they would
terminate their services by October 21.
The
State government asked that a team be constituted to take over the place. I
quickly constituted a committee. The committee went there and saw that the
place had been locked up and there was nobody working there. How do you take
over from a locked up building – no staff? They gave us a notice and they
locked up immediately.
