The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Prof. Joseph Ikechebelu, has carved a niche for himself as far as medical practice, medical research and others.
A Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology with over 24 years experience as consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, Ikechebelu is also a fertility specialist and gynaecological endoscopic surgeon, with over 150 scholarly publications in reputable national and international journals.
He is listed in the Scopus First 500 scholars in Nigeria in 2020 and among the first 10 academics in UNIZIK Awka in 2021 based on article citations and publications.
In this interview Ikechebelu, formerly the promoter of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) at Life Specialist Hospital, Nnewi, spoke on some issues revolving around that medical technology. He also spoke on issues concerning his work in UNIZIK.
From available records, you pioneered the establishment of assisted Reproductive Technology Services in Anambra State sometime in 2010 with the delivery of your first IVF conception on August 6, 2011. If this record is correct, what was the situation like before you came on board?
I am a trained obstetrician and gynaecologist. And in addition to that training, I also trained in assisted reproductive technology popularly known as in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). I had my training in Nigeria and Canada, and having trained in that field since the year 2000. My first training between 1998 and 2000, and completed the training but there was no place to practise it in Anambra State. So, when we had women who needed these services, we sent them to Lagos and Abuja. So, people in Anambra State had to go to Lagos or Abuja to access these services and it took a lot. You had to go there, get accommodation or you travel abroad. And having this knowledge and knowing that it is what I can do, but not having the environment to do it, it became an issue. And I said to myself that Ndi Anambra and those around need to benefit from this; and that made it for me to take loan facilities from banks and everything to set up an in-vitro fertilisation centre at Life Specialist Hospital, Nnewi. And this was opened in 2010 so that our women from Anambra State and environs, Igboland at large, will not need to go to Abuja or Lagos again to access this care which is very important for families. Any family that wants to have a child and you cannot have it the natural way, this assisted method helps you to have a child. And you know that in Igboland, to have a child is the number one reason for marriage. Any other thing follows after that. If there is no child, even if the love is 100 per cent before, it will crash. So, we set it up, basically to render service because we know that the people need it. And in 2010, we started doing something about it. Our first cycle was with two couples. One succeeded, one didn’t succeed. That was a 50 per cent success rate. And that baby was delivered on 6th of August, 2011. And the name of that baby today is Joseph. The child is 12 years old today. He is in secondary school. And so, that kick-started assisted reproductive technology in Anambra State and its environs. And several successes have been recorded since then. We have been able to have twins, triplets, quintuplets and others. And currently the practice has developed further with the addition of sex selection methods into what is being done. So, it is every day that the technology is being improved and the success rate is going up and many families are getting their heart desires from this.
Some people have expressed concern over the possible side effects it may have. Are there side effects to that?
Basically, when we ask, are there side effects? Side effects are the effects of the drugs used. We use a lot of drugs. These are not dangerous side effects. These are necessary side effects because you will take some drugs; the drugs will have effects on your body. But at the end of the day, when you get pregnant, and you deliver your baby, everything clears because the whole treatment will be over. So, that’s why I said that these are necessary side effects which are uncontrolled. We have all that we do to make sure that you go through it successfully. At the end of the day, what is important is that, at the end of the day, you go through it successfully; get pregnant, have your babies. That’s the success story.
What would you say are the challenges associated with that assisted reproductive technology?
The basic challenge is that it is expensive because this is a technology that everything used in doing it is imported. The drugs used are not made in Nigeria; the consumables we use are not made in Nigeria; everything, and so, dollar fluctuations affect it. Today, with the high cost of dollars, the price of in-vitro fertilisation; when we started, with less than N500,000 you’ll have an IVF done. Today it is almost hitting N1.5 million to get an IVF done. If the economy and the dollar exchange were much better, the idea is that you bring it as cheap as possible for people. But let me also say that it is even still the cheapest even at our cost now because in America, in-vitro fertilisation goes at $10,000 for a cycle. In Europe, it goes at about 5,000 to 6,000 pounds for a cycle. So, by the time you look at it, it is still cheapest in Nigeria and that’s why our people in the Diaspora leave Europe and America to come to Nigeria to have this in-vitro fertilisation done for them because it is still cheaper. It is just that for those in Nigeria, it sounds expensive to do but it is still cheaper. It is even cheaper than going to India because the flight you will take to go to the place; the hotel accommodation you will use for about three weeks to one month will have already paid for two cycles for you if you are doing it in Nigeria.
Is there a difference between a child that was conceived the natural way and the child conceived through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF)?
There is no difference; they are all babies and they are the same thing – normal. We have also done studies to know whether there are more abnormalities with babies born through in-vitro fertilisation and we have found that we don’t have more abnormalities. And these children grow, get to the university and have their intellect. The first woman born through IVF, Louise Brown, in 1978 has grown and gotten married and had her children naturally; just to tell you that she is natural. So, everything is natural. You just have a baby and it is a normal person. So, I want to encourage our people, if you cannot conceive naturally, go the assisted conception way because it is a standard, approved and very good technology that can save your marriage and your life.
Beyond this technology now, what are the latest innovations in medicine that are helping to improve the wellbeing of Nigerians and Africans in general?
There are so many technologies that are coming up in medicine. One of these technologies that have actually come is the one we call keyhole surgeries. It is almost the surgeries that we do now through endoscopy. Endoscopy is the latest…it is not that it is the latest now but it is the technology that is actually making inroads into our country at a very fast rate. With that comes what we call robotic surgery. Now, these are operations we do without cutting people open in the normal way we cut people open. We just use gadgets and plug in some gadgets into the body and operate on that person. You finish surgery today; a major surgery; the person gets up and he is going home the next day. We almost call this one surgical miracle because I can remove the fibroid and finish that. These are normal operations you would have done, the person will stay seven days in the hospital. And when the person even gets out of the hospital after seven days, he still has to recuperate for another one month at home. But today, you can do it through this laparoscopy endoscopy method and the person goes home the next day and goes back to his business and everything. So, that’s one good technology that is coming into medicine. And it has added that we now have what is called robotic surgery where robots are used to perform these surgeries now. With robotic surgery comes what we call telesurgery. Telesurgery is that somebody can be in Germany and be operating on somebody in the US through the power of the internet and robotics. And so, these are innovations that have come into medicine that are actually changing the narrative of how we do surgeries. Added to this are also so many modern devices that assist us to do what I have said we do now. They are too numerous to mention. But take it that it is not as it was in the beginning, so shall it be. There are advances and there are advances.
Has this robotic surgery taken place in Nigeria or anywhere in Africa?
The robotic surgery has not taken place in Nigeria. There is actually no robotic equipment in Nigeria in the meantime. The only place it is taking place in Africa is South Africa and Egypt. Apart from these two locations, there is no other location in Africa. But in Europe and America, it’s becoming a routine to do robotic surgery for so many operations and everything now. And so, this is important.
It’s been a few years now since you came on board as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) of this university. When this administration came on board, it touted making this university one of the top 200 in the world as its main aim. How has that journey been? Where is the university now?
The journey is fantastic and I must say it’s been an uphill task. But the university has made steady progress. When we started, we were ranked 34 in Nigeria. Today, in the latest ranking released in June by Times Higher Education for all the universities in sub Saharan Africa, Nnamdi Azikiwe University was ranked number 4. So, from a position of 34 in 2019 to 4 in 2023. Similarly, we were ranked over 100 in Africa. In that sub-Saharan Africa ranking, Nnamdi Azikiwe University was ranked number 31. So, these are major advances. In the world in 2019, Nnamdi Azikiwe University was ranked above 4,000 in position. Today, Nnamdi Azikiwe University is ranked at 2800 position in the band. So, you could see that the progress has been remarkable and we are still making that progress further. Why are we on board? To innovate and to add more things to make sure that academics in the university takes pride of place; the academic culture is fast catching up with everybody. There is the zeal and the interest for people to do research and to do publications and to win laurels; the ranking and citation of our staffs proving every day. The management is supporting research, supporting publications, supporting people to go for conferences and presentations and putting the name of Nnamdi Azikiwe University on the global stage. So, all these things are to raise the tempo and the momentum of academics in this environment and it’s been fantastic.
So, what have been the challenges in doing these? These achievements you mentioned didn’t just come without efforts.
In everything that you do, challenges are the inertia of people to change; inertia for human beings to change. You have to pull your staff. You have to pull people from a position of inertia to get the momentum in them for them to love research, love academics, love what they are doing. Of course, you should know that COVID and the prolonged industrial actions in universities and the non-payment of university workers had actually dented the morale of so many academic staff and this is a typical situation that has slowed down so many things that would have been achieved. People coming back from the prolonged strike, not having any resources in their pocket, it affected the academics with what they were doing, but that may not be the case. Of course, issues of the environment; power issues, electricity, internet penetration, these things are limitations because every academic needs the internet 24/7; you have to be online, you have to be moving, you have to be connecting to the whole globe. You also need electricity if you want to use the internet you also need electricity to be the backup.
We need infrastructure; standard laboratories, standard lecture rooms and everything; and so many things that we need. These are things that are very essential to create that academic environment that we so desire, but we know that we will get there. Where there is a will, there must be a way. And it is our will that is pushing us to overcome these obstacles.
On a scale of one to 10, where would you place staff welfare in this university?
The staff welfare in this university, you can say with all intents and purposes, they are within the resources available to the university and the university management has also done creditably in meeting the welfare of the staff. Welfare of the staff in the sense that conferences are being funded; welfare of the staff in the sense that academic workshops are being held; management supports international conferences here and there. And all these things encourage the staff to even do more. So, within the resources of the university, that is being taken care of.
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