With Uche Nnadozie
He was supported on both sides by his friends as he could barely walk given his ill health. The hope of getting immediate medical attention was dampened as the nurses on duty walked past without a sideward glance. Despite his health condition, he had to endure long hours on the queue before getting medical treatment as there was only one doctor on duty. That was the plight of a colleague at the Ilorin General Hospital recently. The unpleasant experience is not peculiar to my colleague but has been the lot of many patients. This scenario highlights the obvious problem of inadequate medical doctors at the state owned health facility. There are cases of patients who were at the hospital for sundry health reasons, but left out of frustration without accessing the treatment they sought. There are always too many patients and not enough doctors. It is commonplace to hear patients and families express dissatisfaction over the development.
With this challenge, the purpose for which the hospital is established; providing accessibility to qualitative healthcare for an increasing population, is being defeated. The effect of this development could be dire on the state’s health system. The dearth of doctors could lead to death of patients and possibly affect performance of the overburdened medical practitioners. It could affect quality of patient care, affect morale of the doctors and even standard of practice. This trend gives room to frustration, poor attitude to work and workplace incivility.
Aside acute shortage at the Ilorin General Hospital, other challenges include inadequate medical supplies such as drugs and other consumables. Patients are asked to provide as little as cotton wool, syringes before they can be given medical care by nurses in some cases. Then there is also the problem of poor sanitation and water supply. The poor sanitary state of toilets at the hospital is appalling. It is disheartening that the hospital that should provide healthcare in a hygienic environment, cannot boast of clean toilets. The unkempt toilets emit terrible stench and are unsightly. This unhygienic condition could compound the health problems of the patients at the hospital instead of providing them relief from their health conditions. Whereas, the primary function of any health institution is to save life and not otherwise.
The management of the hospital should ensure the total facility maintenance to address this problem. It is pathetic that huge government investment on public facilities are allowed to go down the drain owing to lack of maintenance. This should not be not be fate of the state owned government hospital.
Adequate water supply is necessary for the convenience of the patients on admission at the hospital.
A woman who gave birth to her baby at the hospital sometime in May this year, said the nurses demanded money to supply water , with which she was cleaned up. This is quite unfortunate. The issue should be investigated by the state Commissioner for Health, Alhaji Sulyman Atolagbe Alege and the management. Necessary action should be taken, if it established that such act is being perpetuated at the hospital by the health workers.
Nonetheless, the state government on its part should ensure that the general hospital and other health facilities in the state are provided with competent and skilled manpower. For the state government to achieve functional health system it must address the dire shortage of doctors at the Ilorin General Hospital in particular because it is strategically placed to enable easy access of people especially in the state capital to healthcare.
Of equal importance is effective monitoring of the government hospitals for positive result in the health sector. It is also pertinent that the health care providers in the hospital shun negative attitude towards work and be more sensitive to the plight of the patients in their care. They need to understand that healthcare is more of a humanitarian service. As observed poor attitudinal problem particularly in the public sector has further endangered lives of patients. It is for this reason that most people prefer to patronise private hospitals where the welfare of patients is put on the front burner because the private sector health workers know that they (patients) are the ‘customers’ keeping them in business. The management must put measures in place to monitor the activities of these health workers. Their responsibility should be first and foremost to save lives.
There is no doubt that the Governor Ahmed administration has recorded tremendous transformation in the health sector, which include the rehabilitation of the general hospitals across the state, this is a sustainable effort aimed at taking the state to higher pedestal. Therefore, all hands must be on deck to patientsevelop the sector in the interest of all.
It is cheering that the state government voted N24bn for health sector in the 2018 budget, which was presented before the state lawmakers recently.
According to the state Governor, Alhaji Abdulfattah Ahmed, the fund would be expended on providing qualitative, affordable and accessible health care service.
