Uvie Clinic, Ozoro.....For those of you who've never heard of it(and I'm sure you're many)It's a little clinic somewhere in Nigeria. It's in a place called Ozoro, in Isoko North Local Government Area, Delta State.
It was conceived in the mind of its progenitor and the then Medical Director, Dr. Ruvwe Samuel Onoruvie(deceased; June 7, 2007) in his days as a medical student in the College of Medicine, University of Lagos. The dream was realized in 1983 upon his return from the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, Ireland. The Clinic has been a veritable institution of Ozoro, being started by one of its very own, for the last twenty-six(26) years. In the eyes of the community, the identity of the Clinic has been synonymous with its founding Medical Director.
The Clinic is situated at No. 17A, Onoruvie Street, just off Notre Dame College Road, Ozoro. It is staffed by competent nurses, a visiting medical consultant , a mortuary attendant, an ambulance driver and other support staff. It offers a wide range of medical services, has an ultra-sound scanner that has been touted as the best in the whole of the Isoko nation and a mortuary.
The goal of its founding father has always been simple; to bring much needed medical attention to the rural community of Ozoro and to develop the medical practice to be all inclusive of other medical services; in other words , to make it so large and so well developed that one need never visit outside the shores of this great country for complex medical procedures that can be found right here in your own backyard.
Now , the story that's going to be told is not so much one of the clinic itself as much as it is one of the late Dr. Onoruvie's family. It is about the travails of this organization in the era begun after his death; the struggles because of the polygamous nature of the man and his family; the problems caused by his dying intestate;the problems arising because the very nature of family politics being played at the Clinic's expense. The result?
The Clinic is in dire need of some support; and is very much miles away from it's progenitor's dream. In a family like mine filled with professionals, one would hardly think of that as the case. Two lawyers, one dentist, a computer scientist, an economist, a geologist and a microbiologist; certainly a team of brains within one family that should be able to sit down and chart the course for the clinic to follow, wouldn't you think? Yet two years down the line, we're certainly no closer to finding a lasting solution to the predicament the clinic now presents. I say 'we'; too much of buck passing and the attitude of protecting one's own have led to a once fruitful organization being slowly ground down and suddenly staring an apparently inevitable standstill in the face.
The crux of the matter appears to be a lack of basic understanding as to what constitutes effective clinic administration. Lest I forget, the clinic has been in the hands of the extended family since September 2007 for reasons of proximity to its location. Every child of its late progenitor have been and are still based quite far away from the clinic itself.
In recent times, the Clinic administration has been returned to the head of that family's unit; the first son in the person of yours truly. My first task will be to identify the clinic's challenges; easy enough, as they range anywhere from constant power supply to largely under utilized equipment and outside restoration and repair of some of the facilities. My second task: doing the necessary in order to resolve the problems mentioned above. Now, this part cannot be easy! It isn't, but we're resolved to changing its dwindling fortunes in order to realize its progenitor's dreams.
As a wise man once said, "Insanity is doing things the same way and expecting a different result!". Believing that I cannot go it on my own, I've decided to throw the search for a lasting solution to everyone who's reading this. Your comments will be appreciated and perhaps a little active participation in reviving a humanitarian ideal.
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