A dozen crates, most of them too heavy for a four-man lift, containing valuable used medical equipment, are leaving St. Joseph’s Hospital this week bound for Nigeria.
Most of the equipment will find a home in the city of Yola, in northern Nigeria where it will find a new life as vital components in the delivery of medical services there.
The ambitious project has attracted a team of volunteers who include Dr. Charles Omosigho, who has been practicing family medicine in Estevan for the past six years and is a member of the African Hands group at St. Joseph’s Hospital, its executive director Greg Hoffort and a volunteer team from the RM of Benson (RM employees and municipal councillors) led by their reeve David Hoffort, who built the crates and loaded them carefully with the medical equipment.
Greg Hoffort said the medical equipment being shipped had been sent to the hospital’s basement over the past few years, as they were replaced by more technically sophisticated equipment, but all were in good working order.
The pieces being shipped include two anesthetic machines, two operating tables, two intensive-care beds, two medication carts, two examination tables, a birthing bed and a film processing unit for X-rays.
The 12 crates will be trucked to tidewater by the African Hands International Health Organization, where they will be placed aboard a cargo ship for the journey to northern Nigeria, said Dr. Omosigho. This will be at the expense of the health-care group that consists of medical professionals of various disciplines who currently work in Canada and the United Kingdom.
The doctor explained that service in the more remote areas of Nigeria is one of the requirements for medical professionals who wish to graduate from medical schools there.
One year of internship or practicum is required, “sort of like some countries require young people to spend a year in the military, we in the medical field spend a year in that kind of service before we can get our medical degree,” said Omosigho, who hails from the southern regions of Nigeria but appreciates the continuing link through African Hands. “Doctors, dentists, optometrists, medical professionals from all fields, we will take two or three weeks every year or two and do volunteer work there with this organization,” he said, adding he knew the Estevan hospital’s donation will be well received and well used and will be maintained carefully to extend the equipment’s useful life spans.
David Hoffort said the RM of Benson team consisting of Dwight Monteyne, Rick Noble, Murray Ksenych, Wes Neff, Stan Zimmerman and himself, was happy to be a part of the effort. The three employees were currently being underutilized with general chores due to a mild winter and the councillors were happy to contribute when they had some time off from other jobs.
“It’s our pleasure. It gets us out of our own shops and these guys enjoy working and doing things like this,” said the elder Hoffort, commenting on the crate construction and the loading of the equipment, some of it fairly fragile which required additional strapping and wrapping prior to loading. The team contributed about 100 volunteer hours, he guessed, but nobody was really keeping track of that.
Greg Hoffort said he was reluctant to place a value on what was being shipped, but estimated that it could be as much as $300,000 to $400,000 since all pieces were in good working order prior to being relegated to the hospital’s basement.
Dr. Omosigho said he had a discussion with the executive director about African Hands and told him he knew that this group would benefit from the donation.
“There will be a skilled crew at the other end who will re-assemble and maintain this equipment.”
“It’s a great place for our used equipment to wind up because it can still give a lot of value for someone else,” said Greg Hoffort.
“If we save one life using this equipment, then it’s well worth it,” added Omosigho. “And I express thanks on their behalf … the recipients and from African Hands.”
“I just think a thanks are in order in return to Dr. Omosigho for making this happen,” said Hoffort.
Omosigho said he figured the cargo ship will unload the 12 crates in Lagos where they will then be trucked to Yola, the capital of Adamawa State where the pieces will be installed in local hospitals where it is needed.
