By Muhammed Chukeuemeka
My attention has been drawn to a publication going round in some social media platforms, particularly on WhatsApp platforms in which one of my publication was captioned as “malicious and misleading”
Like I always stated, I will remain committed and stand by whatever I dishout to the general public,not minding whatever individual or group of individuals might say.I wouldn’t make such publication without findings and obvious evidences.
Lokoja Specialist Hospital, a state owned hospital, beautifully build, well equiped and supposed to be the hope for the masses especially the indigenes but reverse is the case.
In the case of Lokoja Specialist Hospital,with good edifice,seems to be like an expensive car with a bad driver. Though I have never meet the CMD in person, I have never had any encounter with him before as such I cannot judge him.
The story begins with one of my patient who took herself to the hospital, and was abandoned for several hours unattended by the staffers on duty, who later decided to called me on phone and informed me of what she was passing through and I rushed down to meet her helplessly crying and shouting, no doctor or nurse close to her and I asked to know why she was left unattended to. Just for a nurse to tell me that she has no payment receipt.
The lady in question is on NHIS and I was just running Helter skelter after giving me a direction to computer room from emergency Ward. The computer guy redirected me to GOPD where no one was around to attend to me. At this point I became more angry and I told them should my patient dies I won’t take it lightly with them, that’s when I started getting the truth that they are working based on instructions.
I had to use the money on me to pay for medications for an NHIS patient aside the delay. The only doctor on duty was attending to all the patients in the ward before an emergency was brought into emergency and the doctor asked us to our patient to the lab for test, the lab attendant refused to attend to us despite the plead and cry of the patient, she insisted we go back to the doctor and ask her to send the sample else she won’t attend to us, we’ve spent almost two hours already on all of these.
After the whole of the trouble, I used the medium to get words out of their mouth and I interviewed them on the situation of the hospital. The staffs are tired of the situation because they are also affected one way or the other because their family members have faced same when they are brought to the hospital but they don’t have the power to bend the rules.
They can’t attend to even their relations without payment receipt to show for it and sometimes they lost them. They are tired but no other work to do, though some can’t bear it and had to quit out of sympathy for what people are facing.
Several people can give testimony of what they have faced, how they lost their loved one’s in special hospital. Go back to the so called “malicious and misleading publication” to see testimonies of people and their encounter with the specialist hospital management.
Specialist Hospital Lokoja is like an expensive car with a bad driver. Private hospitals has become the hope for the vulnerable instead of government hospitals.
I won’t say much but if the management want to drag this instead of bending their policies and let saving of lives be their first priority, we would go to the public for interview and let the judgement take it course.
I rest my case here.
Muhammed is social activist and philanthropist,he writes from Lokoja,Kogi State.
