Benue teaching hospital is bringing cancer care closer to millions in north-central Nigeria

In 2022 and about a year before he became governor, Hyacinth Alia arrived at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH) after receiving news that a relative had been admitted there. By the time he got there, the patient had died. The hospital was in darkness and smelled so badly. From that point, Alia knew that if he became governor his work had already been cut out for him.

More than three years into his first term as governor, Alia has invested heavily in healthcare for the betterment of residents of Benue.

Now, the Benue teaching hospital is not only competing with the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Makurdi in terms of better pay but global standard equipment.

With the construction of a cancer centre underway, a physiotherapeutic center for children with special needs and other facilities, the Benue teaching hospital is gradually positioned to be a regional solution for challenging ailments in the entire north-central zone of the country.

During the Renewed Hope tour of Benue projects recently, Tersoo Kula, chief press secretary to Alia, told the presidential media team and journalists that the governor is giving special attention to the hospital after his harrowing experience in 2022.

“Today I can boldly tell you before the cameras, that the facility has become a medical center, especially in the north-central. People are coming from Abuja, Nasarawa, some from Taraba, some from Enugu, they are coming to access facilities here,” Kula said.

On his part, Terungwa Stephen Hwande, chief medical director of BSUTH, said the governor has so far invested about N20 billion in the hospital with about N2 billion going to the cancer centre.

“This cancer centre is expected. Taraba is around this axis. There is no cancer centre in Taraba, there is no cancer centre in Kogi, there is no cancer centre in Nasarawa,” he said.

“So if this cancer centre is finished, it will serve this hope.

“We are capable of treating Lassa, diagnosis of Lassa. There’s a dialysis machine for dialyzing even Lassa cases. So the molecular one is for infectious disease.”

Speaking on the affordability of IVF, the CMD said: “You can’t enter Abuja and spend five million when there’s a place here you can pay 700,000 and get the services.”

The hospital’s chief medical director said one of his biggest challenges was retaining staff, with doctors and other health workers leaving for better-paying federal institutions.

He said the state government has since invested heavily in salaries and recruitment in an effort to stem the exodus of medical personnel seeking better pay.

“So when you hear about Japa in Abuja and Lagos, people are leaving Lagos and Abuja to go abroad. In Benue, our Japa was from Benue State University Teaching Hospital to Federal Medical Centre Makurdi, because of the disparity of between four to six hundred thousand naira,” he said.

“There was a time when the U.S. congressmen were coming to Benue and they sent a team to come and find out whether there’s even a facility. If they come here and they fall ill, they will treat it. It was a precondition for their coming.”

In a geo-political zone where patients often travel long distances in search of quality healthcare, BSUTH is increasingly positioning itself as a destination rather than a departure point.