Dr. Cherian Thomas emphasizes the need for strong leadership during a Medical Board meeting of The United Methodist Church in Nigeria on Feb. 6 in Jalingo. A UMNS photo by Kathryn Witte.

A UMNS Report
By Kathryn Witte*
March 9, 2009 | JALINGO, Nigeria

The Pero, Southern and Gwaten Conferences of the United Methodist Church in Nigeria formed a new medical board in January to better serve the health needs of rural communities.

The goal is to improve the administration of the conferences’ rural health programs.

The board held its inaugural meeting Feb. 6-7 at the church’s headquarters in Jalingo. More than 20 people representing the United Methodist health ministries in Nigeria, non-governmental and governmental health organizations are members of the conferences’ board of directors.

The board’s officers are: Dr. Alfred Y. Kobiba, chairman, the former Commissioner of Health, Taraba State, and currently advisor to the governor; Augustine A. Gagare, first vice chairman, who is principal of the School of Nursing, Jalingo; James Barka, second vice chairman, General Hospital, Gombe, and Lazarus Iliya Filiya, secretary, administrator of the Rural Health Program in Zing.

Struggles and successes

Reporting on the status of Zing’s rural health program, Filiya said it is struggling without a full-time doctor and that the patient census was very low in 2008. Staff members could not be paid on time and many left for other jobs in the private sector. The program also has not been able to obtain sufficient drugs.

Of the 31community health dispensaries located in rural areas across the church’s three annual conferences, he said, only 12 were functioning. Board members expressed concern and raised questions regarding their viability and steps needed to get the dispensaries working again.

In contrast, the rural program’s eye section, located on the same campus in Zing, experienced growth and stability in 2008. Gideon A. Avar, ophthalmologist and project coordinator, credited partnerships with Christoffel Blinden Mission in Germany, the Iowa Annual Conference and Pro-Health International in Africa for the eye clinic’s success.

The Christoffel mission has contributed significant grant money to the clinic’s infrastructure, while working agreements with Pro-Health has generated a modest revenue stream.

The Iowa-Nigeria Partnership has brought volunteer eye teams to Zing to work with Avar. The eye clinic has a good reputation for small incision cataract surgery that sees patients going home on the same day of surgery. Avar also credits the implementation of a good fee-for-service strategy, sound management systems and the creative addition of ancillary services in the growth of the eye section.

Nebraska, Iowa partnerships

Dr. Cherian Thomas, an executive with the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, attended the meeting as a special guest. “The most important thing the Nigerian conferences can do for its health ministries is to establish a strong medical board and ensure strong leadership in the institutions,” he counseled.

Board members concurred with Thomas’ recommendation that a board must do three things — hire administrators and hold them accountable, receive program and financial reports, and conduct an annual audit. The board sets the vision and mission and is responsible to monitor and evaluate the work, Thomas noted. “If the board will do these three things you will be successful,” he said.

Others attending the February meeting included Anne Hartman from the Iowa Annual Conference, who is health coordinator for the Iowa/Nigeria Partnership; Dottie Halvorsen, chairperson of the Nebraska/Nigeria Partnership; and the Nebraska Conference communicator.

The Iowa/Nigeria Partnership has existed for more than 20 years. Hartman announced that a small team would return in June to work at the hospital in Zing and help Avar conduct an eye clinic camp similar to one held in 2008. The two-week eye clinic camp served more than 500 people from Zing and outlying communities.

The Nebraska/Nigeria Partnership sponsors an orphanage located near the Nigerian Conference Office in Jalingo. The orphanage currently serves more than 40 students.

*Witte is communications director for the Nebraska Annual Conference.

News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

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Resources

Nigeria Annual Conference

Episcopal Areas in Africa

Nebraska Annual Conference

Nebraska/Nigeria Partnership

United Methodist Board of Global Ministries