Hipp-Olite Amadi, a guru in engineering and medicine, unveils his plans for children across the world in this interview with PHILIP OKAFOR. Background: I am resident in the United Kingdom but hails from Amucha-Ebelse in Njaba Local Government Area of Imo State. The youngest male child of eight siblings, I was a baby during the Nigeria civil war, surviving through the adults caring for me. Perhaps this is not unconnected with my present passion for the survival of Nigerian infants.My career started with my admission into former Anambra State University of Technology (presently Enugu State University of Science and Technology) to study Mechanical/Production Engineering, bagging a Bachelor of Engineering degree. After NYSC, I returned to the postgraduate school of the same university and completed my Master of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology and Management in 1991. I went on the same year to join a medical systems marketing company, Chemisciences Nigeria Limited, Owerri, as a trainee marketing and systems engineer.I rose through the ranks and in 1994, I jointly incorporated Polchazum Engineering Company as a partner company to Chemisciences. I have remained the CEO of Polchazum till date, even from the Diaspora.Â
Inspiration: The most important for now is what brings me to Nigeria, and that is to give infants the opportunity to live. Nigeria has a very bad reputation when it comes to infant mortality. So I am motivated because I feel I have what it takes to reduce that in training people who will continue with the same thing.Another aspect of my life is what I do in the UK as a researcher in Biomechanics. My work is basically to study the contemporary surgical procedures for the repair of shoulder instability, and try through laboratory research, to develop new methods of doing it that will bring about better success. I feel it is a legacy I can leave behind me.
Imperial College consultancy
My work and position in Imperial College is a very simple one. It is simple in the sense that I am connected to the college in the area of generating solution. I spend much of my time in the laboratory and on the computer. In other words, I develop a solution in the laboratory and transfer it to the theatre. Then I show how it might be done on a living being. The bulk of the work is done on cadavers (dead bodies), using them to study the new scale and then supervising the transfer of this to living individuals.
Professional contributions to Nigeria
By virtue of my chosen career, I am a cross-professional between mechanical engineering, pediatrics and orthopaedic medicine. My professional contributions therefore cut across these fields. I developed a computational technique for the planning of effective shoulder surgery. This surgical tool assists in diagnoses and ensures full functional restoration of the arm range of motion after the repair of a shoulder condition known as ‘instability’. This earned me the IMECHE award of 2007. I have successfully carried out research and introduced an optimal incubation approach for the reduction of neonatal morbidity and mortality in Nigeria and other low-income countries of the world. I have travelled round many top tertiary hospitals in the country and assisted in resolving their neonatal incubation problems.Â
I previously designed, produced and commercialised several medical and laboratory machines for use in Nigeria. These are four different models of medical laboratory centrifuges, culture incubators, waterbaths blood mixers, mechanical shakers, electrophoresis machine, microhaematocrit centrifuge, phototherapy machine, newborn photoradant heating system, baby incubator, resuscitaire, etc.
Role models
In Nigeria, I can mention my role model without thinking. He may not be well known because he is a very quiet and simple man. His name is B.U Bassey, the former general manager of Cross State Water Corporation. He did something that most people in state ministries were unable to do. He used his influence to bring water to Calabar and its metropolis.
Another person I will mention is J.C Azubuike, a retired medical doctor from the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu. The rest of them include my senior colleagues at the Imperial College, UK. These people challenged me in their simple lifestyles. These are people that have achieved huge things in the world, but when you see them, you will never know.
Success factors
I think faith in oneself and in God is crucial. Number two is being fully motivated that you can get what you desire. Another thing is not running away from problems because it is actually such problems that will shape you to become great.Â
This is besides being consistent, not chickening out. What makes someone great is not repeating what others have done; it is doing what others have not yet done. I think consistency is key in everything one wants to achieve in life.
Charge to upcoming Nigerians
It is possible to aspire to any height so long as you apply hard work and faith in God. You cannot afford to leave standards and success to chance. Play little, work longer. I was nicknamed ‘arch-physics’ in the secondary school because I never allowed any mathematical problem to rest until I solved it. This translated to my academic hardiness during all my university degree programmes and my present medical research. Use international standards as your target and aspire to beat it.