Ibadan Hospital CEO calls on govt to increase investment on primary health care

•As Nikzar Hospital launches state of the art equipment

An Ibadan Hospital Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Olusegun Ajisefinni has called on the Federal government to invest more on primary health care institution, and ensure standard health care infrastructure and medical personnel across the country.

Dr. Ajisefinni, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nikzar Hospital, Ibadan also bemoaned a situation where accident victims in Nigeria are conveyed on okada, Keke Maruwa, and commerce buses for urgent medical attention, instead of well equipped, functional medical transportation.  

Dr. Ajisefinni, who expressed concern over the derth of medical infrastructure in the country, spoke yesterday at the annual hosting of medical consultants, birth attendants and healthcare partners, organised by Nitzar Hospital management held at Apata, Ibadan, charged the federal government to overhaul primary healthcare institutions for average Nigerians to access good health care delivery.

The event which attracted scores of healthcare providers across Oyo State capital, also has in attendance members of different associations and stakeholders with initiatives to promote and improve maternal health, including the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) and the Traditional Birth Attendants.

Leaders of the associations were also conducted round the Nikzar Hospital,  Apata, Ibadan to access the state- of- the -art equipment available in the hospital aimed at providing quality and affordable healthcare delivery for the people.

Fielding questions from journalists, the CEO of Nikzar Hospital, Ibadan while commending various initiatives by government to improve quality healthcare delivery, said Nigeria is still not there in terms of investment in primary health care institutions.

Dr Ajisefinni also urged the federal government to urgently address challenges of medical transportation and continued exodus of medical personnel, adding that it is only when there is appropriate renumeration and needed medical infrastructure in the country, that many medical professionals will be encouraged to stay and work in Nigeria.

He said “the best thing is for the government to spend more on small small health care institutions they have around where an average person can quickly get the help that they need.

“Those health care centres have to be well equipped as much as the tertiary health care institutions because there is no point in having an emergency where you can only  refer that person to a tertiary hospital in a country where there is no good medical and health care transportation.

“At the end of the day, it is not all the patients that made it to that tertiary institution. So, what are we doing. For example, government should pay more attention to primary health care institutions, put all the necessary resources, and personnel there.

“Nigerians are good, Nigerians know what they are doing, but we are lacking in the necessary equipment. So, these personnel will be able to do their best at resuscitating these patients, making patients stable and then, everybody will be comfortable referring that patient to any tertiary hospital, knowing that that patient will make it there .For example, when you have an accident in Nigeria, you will depend on Okada, Keke Maruwa , buses and cars to transport that patient to the nearest hospital.  Only few people will make it compare to when there is a standby connected ambulance that people could easily call and you get the help you need even right there on the accident spot, you get your IV line if you need one.”

While calling for functional medical transportation in Nigeria, Dr Ajisefinni who cited the case of the world boxing champion, British -Nigerian professional boxer, Anthony Joshua, wondered why government could not provide well equipped medical transportation services across nation’s expressways.

“During transportation, you get all the help you need with a very equipped ambulance. Now, even in some places that have ambulance in Nigeria, that I have seen myself, you will see the ambulance is empty, is more like having a bed, a gony, that’s where you put patients on to transport.

“So, that ambulance, for me is like having a gony and you and I are pushing the patient on that gony to the place, we have every space so we can push the patient on that gony.

“Our ambulance is especially well equipped, to the fact that I have the courage to use it to transport my own mother, with necessary oxygen, electrical outlets, that you can plug in suctioning machine if you have a patient that needs them while transporting them either to nearby hospital or tertiary hospital, to resuscitate the patient, from shock and all those things. So, we are not there at all.

The government needs to do better.

“They need to consider the average person, the low income, like i said, again this affect the rich too. Because your money won’t carry you from that accident spot, it is an ambulance.  You may be lucky that your bullet proof car is not damaged. Like the one that we recently saw. The boxer, that’s Anthony Joshua. Even, that bullet proof car, if it can transport you to hospital, it will only serve as bed for you. You know, there is nothing in it that can be used to help you to breathe before you get to the hospital”, he stated.