The College of Health Sciences and Technology, Idah started out as the School of Health Technology Idah in 1976 in the old Benue State. The institution was basically established as a Centre of Excellence with an unambiguous mandate of producing competent graduates that are capable of providing efficient and modern primary health care delivery services across the country.
The importance of this institution cannot be over emphasized when viewed in the context of the overall effort by government to ensure a nation of healthy citizens. It is in view of this need that the College of Health Sciences and Technology, Idah, offer courses that are aimed at providing the expertise and manpower to fill the primary health care requirements of the country.
The college, which has since its inception, trained middle level manpower for the primary health care subsector, recently witnessed monumental improvement since Comrade Nuhu Anyegwu took over the reins of leadership as Provost.
In this interview, Anyegwu spoke about the institution’s prospects to Time Nigeria Regional Editor(North), Moses George. Excerpts:
The College of Health Sciences and Technology Idah was established over three decades ago. What specific vacuum was it established to fill?
Thank you very much. This college came into existence as a result of a policy initiated by the then Federal Government of Nigeria in the mid -70s that all state governments in the country should establish at least a school of health technology in their respective states. It was in line with that directive that the Benue State Government at that time established the School of Health Technology, Idah, as this institution was then called.
Let me quickly add that, for any nation to have a successful health care system, it must have at its disposal qualified personnel and access to quality health care. This whole mix is attainable when there are properly educated and trained health workers on the ground. This institution was set up to provide adequate and qualified personnel for efficient health care delivery services.
In this college, we offer courses in Environmental Health where we train Environmental Health Assistants, Environmental Health Officers and Environmental Health Technicians. These courses take a minimum duration of two years, three years and four years as the case may be. We also train personnel in the diagnostic services; that is in the Medical Laboratory Sciences. In this course, we train Medical Laboratory Assistants and Medical Laboratory Technicians. We offer course in Community Health, where we train Junior Community Health Extension Workers, and Senior Community Health Extension Workers. Now that this institution is a college, by the time we have put in place, all the necessary facilities, we are also qualified to train Community Health Officers, a programmd that is presently being offered by some universities.
Prospectively, this institution will also offer Public Health Nursing and Ophthalmology. We are working round the clock to see that these courses are introduced in the nearest future. Let me also add that presently, we train Health Information Management Technicians. Just recently, I introduced Food Hygiene, a two years diploma course being regulated by West African Health Examination Board. We also offer Health Education and Promotion in the School of Environmental Studies. Presently, these are the courses that we offer. But like I told you earlier, we have plans to introduce new courses soon.
What value will the graduates of this institution add after their studies in this college?
Good! Again, like I mentioned earlier, our graduates are the manpower needed to propel the primary health delivery system, which is mostly a rural based initiative. But let me also add that their services transcend the rural areas. They can effectively fit into all areas in the health sector. For instance, Environmental Health Officers can be employed by Federal Ministry of Health, Federal Ministry of Environment, NEMA; they can work at the borders, seaports and airports for the regulation of international health.
They are also involved in waste management activities at the private and governmental levels. Health Educators are trained persons who are saddled with responsibility of enlightening members of the public in matters relating to health. They enlighten the public on how to adopt preventive and control measures in the event of an outbreak of communicable diseases. For instance, recently we had cases of Ebola that was ravaging several communities across West Africa. It is the responsibility of Health Educators to enlighten the public on preventive and control measures to be adopted when such outbreaks occurs.
Community Health Extension Workers and Public Health Nurses can be employed by clinics and other health facilities to treat common ailments as enshrined in the primary health care system. The Medical Laboratory Assistants are the ones that carry out diagnostic services through the medical laboratories which you can find in any hospital. They take specimen from the patient and carry out analyses to determine what is actually wrong with the patient before doctors can administer treatment. Health Information management technician on the other hand, carry out very essential responsibility of keeping medical records, ICT, etc in health facilities. So, you now see the important role that those who pass through this college offer the society. Let me use this medium to call on prospective students to seek for admission in this college because the career prospects are bright. They can get further information by visiting the institution’s website.
From what you have said so far, it appears that most health personnel in the primary health care sector are products of this type of institution?
You are right. More than 70 percent of the health personnel in primary health centers are trained in this type of institutions. Like I told you earlier we will bring more courses on board as soon as we can, courses like Ophthalmology, imagery technician, dental technicians, and so on. Having these personnel on the ground will go a long way to ensure an effective health care delivery system for our country.
Do have a strategic plan on how to introduce these courses that you have mentioned?
As a matter of fact, I have a blue print, a kind of working plan. One of my plans is to stimulate expansion in this institution so that the new courses that I have mentioned earlier will be acquired in this institution on quality platform. That way, we will not lack these essential personnel in Kogi State and in Nigeria at large. But first, we need to provide the necessary facilities that’ll equip this institution to carry out these courses that I intend to introduce. As soon we have enough funds, we shall embark on putting up the necessary facilities like a standard lecture theatre, standard science laboratory, a standard library etc. All these facilities that I have listed here are requirements for the entire programmes of the institution.
Similar institutions elsewhere are known to be inadequately equipped and staffed, giving birth to substandard academic work, which translates into graduates that are not properly equipped to fill the manpower requirement of the primary health care sector. What modalities have you put into place to ensure that this institution conforms to academic standards that is in harmony with international best practices?
You see, we have done a lot since we came on board. Just recently, the Nigerian Youth Congress gave us an award as the best provost of college of health sciences and technology in north central Nigeria. As you can see, it is not a politically motivated award. I never solicited for it. It came after a critical assessment by the body. Glory be to God that our modest effort is being acknowledged all over the place.
To answer your question, one of the measures that I have taken in that direction is the setting up of a disciplinary committee to checkmate all forms of malpractices and misconduct, both among the staff and students. I have also instituted a system that’ll ensure high standard and quality teaching. That system will also focus on the eradication of all academic lapses on the part of the students and their lecturers. Students and their lecturers must always be on ground to teach and learn.
We have zero tolerance for absenteeism, truancy and all forms of examination irregularities. In a nutshell, since this is an academic institution, we have put all structures in place to ensure that highest academic standard is maintained. We have installed ceiling fans in all the class rooms and introduced other facilities to ensure that our environment is conducive for academic pursuits. Let me emphasis here that at the College of Health Sciences and Technology Idah, we do not compromise on academic and moral standards. Our goal is to train our students to excel as health practitioners wherever they find themselves in the future.
Our effort is already yielding fruits as the Community Health Department that been experiencing failure over the years witnessed a monumental leap as their exam percentage pass jumped from 10, 15 percent to 84 percent for JCHEW, and CHEW to 70 percent. This is a major improvement and we will keep building upon this. Again, the Community Health Programme that was banned for about two years because of certain factors has been reinstated after I took over as provost. Of course, that was after the board visited and was satisfied with the changes that we have made. We are not resting on our oars, there is still much to be done, and we will keep improving until we get there.
What other initiative are you coming up with in your bid to make the College of Health Sciences and Technology Idah, one of the best of its kind?
Like I told you earlier, our expansion policy will ultimately bring in some remarkable initiatives into this institution. We have concluded plans to strategically build a platform that’ll serve as source of internally generated revenue for the college. We are looking at establishing a water factory, a medical diagnostics laboratory and a confectionery. We will keep expanding and introducing new enterprises that will boost the college’s finances.
Such initiatives will go a long way to boost our revenue base. We are also confident that the Alhaji Yahaya Bello administration will give this college a boost considering the fact that he takes health care delivery as a major focus of his administration. He has made pronouncements and actually taken some concrete steps to ensure a total overhaul of the health care delivery system in Kogi State. And while you are talking about health care, you will certainly talk about trained manpower, and that is where this institution comes to the scene. So I have the conviction that under Yahaya Bello’s administration, this college will enjoy unprecedented support from the government.
What major policy change will you advocate for in the area of primary health care delivery services?
Since prevention, as they say is better than cure, government should concentrate more on preventive health, rather than on the curative. If government focuses on preventive health care, it will certainly result in good health for all. Today, government at the federal level is paying more attention to curative health services, while the root causes of these ailments have not been dealt with. It is this attitude that has made the attainment of health for all, a mirage.
Government should ensure good water supply to all people, no matter where they are located, there should also be a clean environment. These two factors will prevent water and air borne diseases which are actually the major causes of ailments among the people. Health officers should be empowered to carry out vigorous enlightenment campaigns, etc. Government should embark upon tree planting activities to militate against climate change; there should be provision of adequate facilities for sanitation purposes, etc.
Considering all the efforts we are putting in place to transform this college, I am calling on the Federal Government to work out a plan with the Kogi State government to take over this institution so that it becomes Federal College of Health Sciences and Technology, Idah. The takeover will propel the college to greater pedestals. There is no doubt that the benefit of this development will resonate across the whole country and Nigeria will be better off in the context of primary health care delivery.