By Chukwuka Ugokwe, Awka
The wife of the Anambra State Governor, Mrs Nonye Soludo, has inaugurated a new Implant Facility and Healthy Living Shop at the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital (COOUTH), Awka, as part of efforts to strengthen quality and preventive healthcare in the state.
Mrs Soludo was also invested as the Matron of Pregnant Women and Children by the management of the teaching hospital in recognition of her support and contributions to the facility.
The investiture and commissioning ceremonies, held at COOUTH, were followed by a tour of the hospital’s newly established facilities.
Speaking during the event, Mrs Soludo commended the Chief Medical Director of COOUTH, Dr Maureen Umeakuewulu, for what she described as remarkable transformation at the hospital within six months of assuming office.
She pledged her continued support for the management and staff of the teaching hospital, stressing the need to ensure that no woman or child in Anambra State is left behind in the pursuit of quality healthcare.
Explaining the significance of the new facilities, Dr Umeakuewulu said COOUTH was moving beyond a purely therapeutic model towards a more holistic and preventive approach to healthcare.
She said the Healthy Living Shop was established to provide patients and members of the public with practical dietary guidance through professional dietitians.
“Apart from treating and making diagnosis, we have to look backward to know the genesis of what is happening to us. The period is apt for us to look into preventive medicine,” she said.
According to her, the shop has dietitians who guide people on how to prepare healthy meals, what to eat and the appropriate portions to consume.
Dr Umeakuewulu also described the Implant Shop as a major innovation, explaining that comprehensive and sterilised sets of various implants would be made available directly to the operating theatre.
She said the arrangement would give surgeons the flexibility to select the best-fitting implants during procedures, thereby improving surgical precision and patient outcomes.
The CMD added that the hospital planned to extend the service to other hospitals across the Southeast.
She expressed appreciation to Governor Chukwuma Soludo for interventions in the hospital, saying they had contributed significantly to its transformation and increased patient inflow.
Also speaking, the Anambra State Commissioner for Health, Dr Afam Obidike, acknowledged the governor’s interventions in COOUTH over the past four years.
He listed the construction of roads within the hospital, payment of what he described as the highest Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF) in Nigeria for resident doctors, and construction of a Trauma Centre among the major interventions.
Obidike also commended Dr Umeakuewulu for what he described as her impressive performance within six months in office.
Tags: #COOUTH #NonyeSoludo #AnambraHealth #Healthcare
