Showdown looms at National Hospital Abuja

Stakeholders at the National Hospital, Abuja are gearing for a showdown with the Federal Government over the failure to address the issue of the expired tenure of the facility’s Chief Medical Director (CMD), Dr. Jafaru Alanua Momoh has refused to vacate the position even after attaining the stipulated retirement age as at February 2020.
The practice would have been for an acting CMD to run the affairs of the hospital until the government appoints a substantive one, to ensure that the hospital achieves its objectives of providing the necessary tertiary clinical services the country direly needs.
Union members at the hospital are also aggrieved by what some of them described as the “unmitigated corruption” that has reportedly been the hallmark of Dr. Momoh’s tenure in addition to concerns that the institution was run like a personal business.
A source at the hospital who pleaded for anonymity for fear of being victimized revealed that “The current unhealthy situation in the leadership of the National Hospital Abuja is a major concern to the staff of the hospital in particular and should be to all Nigerians in general.
“The current Chief Medical Director, Dr (Jafaru Alanua) Momoh has refused to vacate the seat of the CMD in spite being due for retirement on grounds of age. He attained the age to retire as far back as February this year so he should have even been on end of service leave as at December last year. But he has remained adamant and persisted in remaining in that position. There is no way this is good for National Hospital,” the source noted.
Another staff, who hails from the same state as the CMD, revealed that Dr. Momoh has sustained a large-scale lobby involving some prominent traditional rulers and top political appointees from his home state, Edo State.
He also reportedly focused on profit making as opposed to providing care, for which the place was primarily set up. Dr. Momoh is said to remit money into government coffers even when the hospital is in serious need of consumables to function properly, a situation that has left patients or their relatives with the burden of sourcing for items that should have ordinarily provided by the hospital, prompting claims that the National Hospital boss gets commissions on the amounts so remitted.
Doctor Momoh’s insistence on remaining in office even after exceeding the retirement age is said to have dampened staff morale as many of them concluded undue favouritism was at play since the CMD should have retired with two of his colleagues who were undergraduate classmates in the persons of Dr Imuzuluke and Dr Opadele. They retired last February.
The stance of the CMD runs contrary to the rule-of-law disposition of the current government of President Muhammadu Buhari and is affecting the smooth running of the already non-performing apex hospital.