Our History

Constructions
Once the determined Archbishop had some money in his coffers, he swung into action. As noted above, the contractual agreement for constructing the hospital major block was signed in 1961. By the end of April 1962, the sod was already turned and work progressed tremendously. By the time Cardinal Montini visited later that year, the massive two-storey building had reached the roofing stage. Work continues to progress till January 1964 when the main building was completed. It was a magnificent three-floor structure with cantilevers at the upper storeys. This building still stands in glamour today!

Next to be constructed was the Out-Patients Department. This was to be a series of bungalows to house the consulting & waiting rooms, the pharmacy, the laboratory, the X-ray room, and so on. This series of buildings was completed in May 1964. Worthy of note and praise here is Rev. Fr J. Keane, the then Vicar General of the Archdiocese. On behalf of the Archbishop, he was the one who personally negotiated the contracts and supervised the constructions from the turning of the sod till the completion of constructions. Painstakingly, he supervised the works, carefully did the necessary correspondences and meticulously gave account of every penny that was voted for the project. To him, the hospital owes a debt of gratitude.

Also worthy of mention here is Sr Mary Cyprain. She was then the matron of the Holy Rosary Hospital at the Waterside. From there she contributed in all the way she could to make the Borromeo project a reality. From our archives, “By her self-sacrificing joyous charity to all in Onitsha without distinction…, she epitomised the spirit of the Catholic Hospital and made its need more felt and the demand for it more imperative.” This noble religious woman died in a motor accident before the Borromeo dream could be realised. In her memory, the officers of the then multi-racial Onitsha sports club instituted aSrCyprain Memorial fund with which they purchased a mobile x-ray unit for the hospital.

Teething Problems & Gradual Opening
With constructions completed and equipment procured, the next important task was to provide efficient management and adequate manpower for the hospital. The onus of management fell on the Holy Rosary Sisters who had engaged in healthcare delivery in Eastern Nigeria since 1930. They had a record of devotion and service, and had the confidence of the populace. From the congregation came a brilliant Sister doctor, an acknowledged expert in hospital administration, who took months of detailed planning to set the hospital at its feet and organise the equipment.

In the evening of June 5, 1964, Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Archbishop Charles Heerey celebrated holy Mass in the front corridor of the main building and blessed the edifices. The people who were gathered in their numbers for this occasion were given the opportunity to go around and inspect the facility. They thrilled with pride and gratitude for what they saw. The hospital doors were however closed as visitors left that evening. A lot was yet to be done in setting the place up, manpower was needed, and the supply of power and water still posed a problem.

On November 4, 1964, Feast of St Charles Borromeo, two religious women: Sr Chrysostom and SrAuxilia came in. They lived at the top floor of the main building and, with the help of a skeletal staff of nurses and others, continued putting things in place. Then, a house built by the Archbishop further up the hill, but not yet occupied, was renovated for the religious women. Later, Dumez Construction Company, through the magnanimity of the manager, Mr Berberian, came in with their bulldozer and gave the compound a facelift.

Finally, on Dec 16, 1964, the door of the huge waiting hall of the OPD was thrown open for patients. There were two Sister-Doctors in attendance. However, admitting patients into the wards had to be shifted to the first week of January, 1965.

Then, on the 16th day of January, 1965, to the glory of God and the joy of all and sundry, the hospital was officially opened by the then minister of health in the Eastern Nigerian Government, Hon B. C. Okwu, in a well-attended and glamorous ceremony. This opening ceremony, as recorded in our archives, “is but a public announcement solemnly made, that the hospital is a pulsating, living thing, that its doors are open to all who would seek relief from their sufferings in the atmosphere of Christian charity and kindness.”

It must be pointed out here that in establishing this great hospital, Archbishop Heerey was not establishing a money-yielding facility. Rather, the reality of this hospital comes from the concern of this great pastor for the healthcare of his flock. And so, ab initio, he desired and established a non-profit-oriented hospital that would provide the best possible healthcare to all without discrimination.

Early Years
The responsibility of administering the hospital at inception was given to the Holy Rosary Sisters who, as stated above, were reputed to be experienced and successful in this apostolate across Eastern Nigeria. The first matron was Sr M. Chrysostom HRS, who with SrAuxilliaHRS, assembled a team of workers, medical and paramedical, for the delicate task of healthcare delivery. Facilitated by the Archbishop himself, Sr Dr Mary Lucy came in from Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Ihiala. Also, Dr Porrua was among the earliest doctors to work in the hospital.
After the official opening of the hospital, some other construction works continued. A ramp was constructed for the main building and a mortuary was also constructed. These were blessed by the Archbishop by August 1965. Meanwhile, the inflow of patients into the hospital was very encouraging and continued to grow. It is on record that, some of the days, the hospital had about 400 out-patients! The patients testified to the cordial and collaborative spirit of the hospital staff.
Quite memorable at this point is that Archbishop Heerey got sick in 1966. After the diagnosis of a terminal illness and assessing some treatment in Europe, he came back to Nigeria and, in January, 1967, he was admitted into his cherished Borromeo Hospital – a hospital he conceived and saw to its execution. He slept in the Lord in the hospital on Tuesday 7 February, 1967 and was buried at the Holy Trinity Cathedral on Thursday, 9 February, 1967.

The Civil War Tragedy and Reconstructions
In July 1967, the Nigeria Civil War broke out. This conflict affected the young growing hospital very adversely. As Onitsha town was a major target of the Nigerian forces, the location of the hospital made it a choice site for missile launch. The hospital had to be moved, but there was not enough time to dismantle and evacuate just-installed equipment in various units. They had to be abandoned. The best that could happen was to evacuate patients. Through the period of hostilities, the hospital could be described as a theatre of war. It turned out to be a mass grave for many. At the end of the war in January 1970, the hospital was simply ghostly. The sight was discouraging. The future looked gloomy!
In such situation, a combination of courage and charisma is needed to spur people to action. And this rare combination was demonstrated by Archbishop Francis Arinze (now Francis Cardinal Arinze) who had taken over from Archbishop Heerey as the Archbishop of Onitsha and Proprietor of the hospital just before the onset of war in 1967. Squarely, he took the bull by the horns. Naturally, one would not expect to raise funds from people coming from the devastation of war. To make matters worse, there came the Bank Moratorum Decree of 1970 which provided that any depositor in any bank would be paid £20.00, no matter how much was deposited. The Archbishop thus turned his solicitation for funds overseas. He made a detailed and touching analysis of the situation and stated what was needed to turn the moribund hospital around. Responses were really favourable. The OXFAM (England), Misereor (Germany) and German Caritas organisations merit recognition here. There were other generous donors.
At the site, people were galvanised to begin clearing the huge debris of war. This enthusiastic team of workers was led by Sr M. Chrysostom Okoye IHM. The task of clearing the site of all sorts of debris, including decomposing bodies, was by no means an easy task. By a dint of hardwork and determination, a substantial amount of reconstruction work had been done that by June 1970, a section of the hospital was opened to render medical services urgently needed to combat usual post-war epidemics. Meanwhile, reconstruction works continued. Sr M. Bride Njoku came in as Matron/Administrator later in the year to join the reconstruction efforts. Messrs Dolcino& Co. who constructed the main building was engaged again for the reconstruction of the same. One Anosike Construction company was also involved while Sir Joe Nwankwu Engineering Company reconstructed the Sisters’ quarters and also reconstructed the laboratory section gratis. The official reopening of the hospital after the war was in 1971. To help the administration of the hospital and other Archdiocesan hospitals, the Archbishop constituted a central Medical Advisory Council for the Archdiocese and a Management Board for each Archdiocesan hospital.
Gradually, the hospital returned to normalcy and the fame began to grow again. The medical team also grew. The first post-war doctor was Dr Ezekwesili. Soon after came some other doctors, medical and paramedical staff. Notable among the doctors are Dr Ogbukagu, Dr T. Menakaya and Dr Ibuzo. There were, however, difficulties in securing doctors locally as all foreign doctors left the country as a consequence of the war. The Archbishop turned his search overseas and, though with some difficulties, this proved fruitful. The Misereor Organisation sent Dr Kulic in 1972. Also, two very devoted doctors from Western Germany – Dr B. Mandrella and Dr EgonSauorwald joined the medical team. The euphoria that greeted their coming however was diminished by the death of Dr Sauerwald, a sad experience to the whole Archdiocese. Later, Dr Mandrella got sick too of the dreaded Lassa fever. Sr M. Bride was simply heroic in attending to him. In spite of the highly contagious nature of the disease, in the company of another nurse and a seminarian (now Msgr Greg Adibe), she accompanied him to Ibadan for treatment. Later, with the help of the German government, Dr Mandrella was flown back to Germany for more medical attention. He was still accompanied by Sr M. Bride and a Borromeo nurse, and fortunately got healed. The German government decorated these two with medals in recognition of their gallant efforts.