Healthcare Support: Four Abuja Hospitals Benefit As Y.C. Maikyau, OON, SAN Makes Unofficial Weekend Visits
The President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, SAN, OON today the 3rd of December 2022 presented thousands of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to various hospitals within the Federal Capital Territory.
Beneficiaries of Maikyau’s philanthropic gesture were Garki Hospital; Cedarcrest Hospital in Apo; Federal Medical Centre in Jabi; and Medicaid Radio-Diagnostic Centre & Clinics in Utako, Abuja.
While stating that the gesture was made in his personal capacity, as he is always interested in making contributions to the health care sector, Maikyau who was accompanied by personal friends, classmates and colleagues from his office, rendered an apology to members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) who would have wanted to identify with him on the project.
He said, “This move was not intended to be done in my capacity as President of the Nigerian Bar Association but I’m beginning to realise that it is difficult to separate my personal life from the life of the office which I occupy. I therefore wish to put an apology on the record to colleagues who would see this and wonder why I did not let them know about it.”
The NBA President said the Personal Protective Gears were gotten with the partnership of friends in North and South America, in continuation with the medical outreach support that he had always been involved in even before he came to occupy the office of NBA President. These medical outreaches he revealed, were paused in the past couple of years due to the menace of COVID-19 and some other challenges.
“We have always had medical outreaches in different places, and in my Kebbi State particularly; with medical personnel drawn from all over the world. This we do in partnership with the Nigerian Medical Association in the Sokoto/Kebbi area; the University College Hospital, Ibadan; ProHealth International; Medicaid Foundation; the Teaching Hospital, Sokoto; Moses Lake medical team in Washington State in the United States of America, and personnel from North and South America like Nicaragua and Chile. These medical personnel would stay for two or three weeks, providing health care services to thousands of people.
“God has always charted this course for me and has put it in my heart to always fraternise with the health sector in providing medical supplies, which I also get from my partners in the US like Prof Zachariah Tanko, a cybersecurity expert who has a common interest as I do in these medical outreaches. Whenever he sees anything in the US, he thinks of home and acquires them, then finds a way of shipping them down. And that is how we came about these personal protective gears.”
Thanking the Garki hospital medical director and his management team, the NBA President said this gesture is in recognition of their own sacrifices in protecting the lives of others. “You are the first contact with patients having contagious or non contagious ailments; as you have taken the oath to protect lives no matter what, using the skills and expertise that God has given to you. We believe that this small support would, in our little way, contribute in trying to make your own lives safer so that we would continue to enjoy the services that you provide.”
Maikyau also used the opportunity to thank President Muhammadu Buhari, for realising the need for every Nigerian to have health insurance cover and assenting to the NHIA bill which made medical insurance cover compulsory. He stated that the economics of providing health to a nation is one that cannot be overemphasised, because a healthy nation is a wealthy one.
In his response, the Chief Medical Director of Garki Hospital Dr Adamu Onu, expressed his profound appreciation to YC Maikyau SAN and his team, saying he believes God directed Maikyau’s footsteps thus far in order to make maximum impact on the lives of people.
“It may seem like a small thing to you but to us in the healthcare sector, it’s a great deal. We personally know colleagues who have died for lack of PPEs. Some like the late Dr Adadevoh are nationally known. It was her singular ultimate sacrifice that spared us the worst of Ebola. Otherwise the story would have been different. I also know of a few other doctors who were consultants that we lost in the medical field when they contacted lassa fever and paid the ultimate price too. PPEs would have made the difference in all these cases, so words fail me, but I say thank you for these 10,050 PPEs you have supported Garki Hospital with.”
Speaking on the new NHIA Act, Onu said, “We are living in interesting times for health care reform in Nigeria and we in Garki hospital have been very strong advocates of universal health coverage and mandatory health insurance for Nigerians, that is why you notice we always welcome patients that have insurance. We are grateful that the Act has been amended and we are happy about the changes that are coming because it means that this is going to transform and improve healthcare indices in Nigeria. We are hopeful about the future and we believe that if the Act is well implemented and operationalised, it will reverse a lot of negatives, like the brain drain in the healthcare sector.”
In Garki hospital, Maikyau donated 75 cartons of PPEs (10,050 pieces) while 48 cartons were donated to Federal medical Centre, Jabi (4,640 pieces). At Cedarcrest Hospital, 31 cartons of PPEs (2,990 pieces) were donated while 54 cartons (5,755 pieces) were donated to Medicaid Clinics.
The pictures below capture the events of the day.
