- By Usman Abdullahi Koli
Diligent hands are blessed with matchless impact; those are the hands of Prof. Yusuf Bara Jibrin, the Chief Medical Director of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital Bauchi, a Chief Consultant Physician and Professor of Medicine, with outstanding record in transformative leadership, articulated research and progressive academic achievements.
ATBUTH has found a great favour in his vigour for development, patience to see projects delivered excellently. His staff can testify to this, and anyone working under him has found a role model in visionary leadership. He is a leader that leads with foresight, simplicity and passion for progress.
Under his stewardship as the Chief Medical Director of ATBUTH, the leadership style of serving humanity is exemplified, the charity begins at home adage is actualised. The speed at which he takes the hospital towards promised land is beyond imagination and expectation.
For Prof. Yusuf, ATBUTH is home, he was among the pioneer staff at its inception and has held many offices over the years, including; Head of Clinical Services and Chairman Medical Advisory Committee, Acting Provost, College of Medical Sciences, and also Dean, Faculty of Clinical Science. He contributed immensely with researches on Cholera, HIV, Malaria, Tuberculosis, viral Hepatitis and recently on Covid19. He authored many articles and conference proceedings in local and international journals.
It is the result of his visionary leadership and hard work that the hospital can boast of having one of the two molecular laboratories for Lassa Fever, COVID19 and other molecular testing for clinicals and research in the North east. Other achievements of the CMD in the hospital are; the Implementation of Electronic Medical Record to improve and ease access to quality healthcare, ATBUTH oxygen plant with capacity of supplying the Hospital and the state, an upgraded Modular Theatre for Specialized surgeries such as ENT, Neurosurgery and Endo-Urology to reduce the financial burden of referral, mitigate Local medical tourism, attract specialists to ATBUTH and boost its economy and expand its horizons.
All these were achieved by well coordinating his team of seasoned professionals and staff, he makes everyone have sense of belonging, feel important. He does not underestimate anybody’s contribution, even the hospital cleaners. It is for these reasons we all jubilate and work with his favourite phrase “ATBUTH Business, is everybody’s Business”, the success and efficiency of the hospital is our project collectively and individually and that we all matter making that happen.
if truly the reward for hard work is success, then he will always sit at the first row of successful people. As a father, mentor and teacher, Prof. Yusuf brings to life a famous quote by Dr. A. Bartlett Giamatti that “Teachers have a gift for giving; it drives them with the same irrepressible drive that drives others to create a work of art or a market or a building.”
Usman Abdullahi Koli,
mernoukoli@gmail.com.