.IMH Birth and Metamorphosis
By Uzo Ugwunze
The Prestigious and foremost Iyienu Mission Hospital (IMH) Ogidi, Idemili North Local Government Area, Anambra State has been upgraded into a teaching hospital status.
This was made known through a press release made available to newsmen by the IMH Hospital Administrator, Rev. Canon Okwuchukwu Tochukwu saying that the tertiary health facility has been successfully upgraded, accredited and approved as the University on the Niger Teaching Hospital.
It states: “Recently the 116 year-old Iyi-Enu Mission Hospital recorded a groundbreaking milestone when it was upgraded and approved as the University on the Niger Teaching Hospital”.
“The hospital which now situates on the old Onitsha-Enugu Road and about eight kilometers east of Onitsha, Anambra State, Nigeria, was established in 1907 by the Church Missionary Society’s (CMS) Niger Medical Mission at Ozalla, Onitsha.
“At its point of inception in the Ozalla Village, the mission carried on the ministry of healing by tending to the sick, the suffering and even taking care of the dying.
“Historically, one famous Miss Mary Elms was credited to have pioneered the foundation of the medical work of the hospital. As a Nursing Sister, she reportedly had her nursing training in Shefield, England, in both General and Midwifery. She arrived Onitsha in September, 1901 and thereafter started a very elementary training of a few non-literate Igbo girls as nurses. It was with these girls and, perhaps, one or two male assistants that Miss Elims carried on the tedious and over-demanding work at the medical centre that later culminated in the establishment of the great Iyi-Enu Mission Hospital in 1907.
“To the glory of God, since its establishment in 1907, the institution has had interesting but very chequered story, the most referred segment of which was the omega point of its fame in the past when it held sway in the whole of the then Eastern Region of Nigeria.
“Being the first hospital in Igboland, the Iyi-Enu Mission Hospital had in the past pioneered and is still championing many important medical programmes, a few of which include: Maternal and Child Care for which the hospital dominated the scene for well over 60 years in this part of the country.
“Among other areas where it had a lead were in the eradication of yaws (Nkwuma in Igbo), the establishment of village maternity homes which later developed into the Niger Diocesan Maternity Service (DMS), the Traveling-Doctor Service Programme and the Systematic treatment of leprosy which led to the establishment of a Leprosy Settlement at Oji River.
“Without mincing words, as a training school, the Iyi-Enu Mission Hospital was the first hospital in Nigeria to graduate midwives, and also was one of the earliest to start the training of nurses. It is on record that one Miss Kemmer Fetepigi (now Mrs. Koripamo), a product of the Iyi-Enu Mission Hospital was the first registered midwife in Nigeria.
“Today, the Iyi-Enu Mission Hospital is not only a cynosure of the people of the South East in terms of ultramodern structural facilities, but also a destination piont of medical tourism with a wide range of the state of the arts health technology. Among the 21st century hi-tech health technology services with which the hospital can now favourably compete with other teaching hospitals in the country include:
“Surgical services, Out-patients/in-patient surgical services, Surgeries – Major and minor, Orthopedic surgical services, Urology clinic and surgical services including endoscopy, Ophthalmology clinic & surgeries
Neurosurgery and Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Surgery.
“Other services are Computed Tomography (CT) scan, Ultrasound services, Mammography (Digital), Digital X-ray services, 2D Echocardiography
Electrocardiography (ECG) among many other services.
“In the same vein, different programmes leading to the award of various certificates, diploms and degrees have been duly accredited for the institution and for which the hospital was recently upgraded and approved as the University on the Niger Teaching Hospital. Some of the courses now offered by the hospital are:
” Nursing Sciences, Basic Midwifery, Medical Laboratory Technicians, Dental Health Sciences, Pharmacy Technicians, and Health Information Management, to mention but a few.
“Considering the place of the Iyi-Enu Mission Hospital in the life of the people of Onitsha, Ogidi, Otuocha, Nkpor, Aguleri, Awka, Aguata, Ekwulobia, Nnewi, Awka, parts of Ihiala and communities beyond Anambra State, the hospital, should in deed, be seen as a social phenomenon for which everyone within the catchment area ought to be grateful to God for his”, it stated.
