I walked past a block of wards in LUTH today and had to halt to observe a heap of rubble on either side of the entrance to the ground floor. I couldn't help but notice that the predominant color of the deris discarded on the lawn was white and it dawned on me quickly that the hospital management was taking advantage of the ongoing strike action and void wards to refurbish the toilet and bathroom facilities. The broken tiles and porcelain were repeatedly discarded by labourers and I could also observe newly installed PVC pipes projecting from the building. I suspect they would be inviting the channels television crew over to rehash their report a few weeks ago but this time with images of glistening tiles and exotic plumbing jobs instead of the near horrific scenes of rusted tubs, pipes and dry taps which resembled scenes from the recovered titanic.
That news report alone indicts the health ministry and indirectly the federal government, exposing their nonchalance and refusal to provide optimal healthcare for Nigerians. Many of our hospitals are local headquarters of mosquito conventions and coupled with the lack of basic amenities, patients and relatives of patients stand a great chance of being overwhelmed with additional health burdens. The National hospital Abuja was directly under the presidency while I was there in 2007/08 (I am not certain if it remains so till date) and enjoyed better funding than other federal institutions. A hospital initially built by the wife of the late dictator Sani Abacha for women and children was transformed to carter for all and sundry including high profile members of the government whenever they are in the capital. The standards there are higher than other government established institutions, proof that they actually do know how to run functional health care facilities. The little problem is just that they find it difficult to to reenact such across the federation. They look away from the fact that Nigeria is imbalanced population wise and different regions and states require differing needs. The constant attempt to always balance equations and giving more than preferential treatment to the capital ends up being counterproductive in the long run. The appointment of medical directors end up being a political jamboree and comes down to "who know man" factors. The reason why such public officers dash down to Abuja cap in hand on a regular basis to collect their meagre allocations. The supposedly trained and experienced administrators soon dump every reasoning capability to draft and pursue policies that would help influence and improve the collective health of Nigerians. They instead become puppets and ready tools in the hands of politicians and career civil servants, dancing to their rhythm and never contesting seemingly obnoxious and outrageous directives. Such will even use their own hands to sign sack letters addressed to their own children and relatives without thinking, zombie-style.
Nigerians seem to be transfixed in a perpetual state of stupor and hypnotism at the mercy of their government. They never seem able to read, reason or ask questions especially when it involves their welfare. It amazes me how readily they consume information given by the government to discredit the doctors' guild, the same government that went toe to toe with the academic staff unions of universities and polytechnics for months. The same government whose officials claim to be unaware of missing funds and subsidies paid for diesel importation; the same government that invited the parents of missing girls to Abuja and gave millions to compromise them? How does any reasonable individual take the words of the government spokespersons without a gallon of Ebola curing salt? Nigerians have not asked the minister of health what his exact plans are to curb the spread of the Ebola virus? I understand the Lagos state government is taking the lead in the state but the report about a press conference by family and friends of affected individuals on the news last night about their concern on the state of facilities and management given to their kin at the Yaba isolation centre got me really worried. Can the health minister categorically give Nigerians a detailed account of measures on how the ministry hopes to end this viral spread? How many quarantine centres are on ground? How will volunteers be secured and protected from being infected themselves and being transmission vehicles? Can he vouch for the authenticity of the said anti Ebola medication sent to the nation for trials? Has he been about from state to state to assess the preparedness of every local ministry? A tiny bottle of hand sanitizer now goes for about 450 or 500 naira, I understand the laws of demand and supply but how did such commodity undergo such fast-paced inflation in dire times like this? Some people are making a fortune from this unfortunate situation but the people have no qualms with them but the doctors who have sworn an oath to put their patients first even if it means committing suicide in the process. The details of the NMA demands are not concealed in secrecy but available everywhere in every form. What would it take someone to pick up a dictionary or surf the web for the meaning of the word consultant or attending? What would it take to ask that doctor in one's neighborhood the exact details of his wages? There is this erroneous belief that doctors are so remunerated beyond belief and are only greedy for more. Some of these people would in fact spend hours arguing with other people on the justification or otherwise of Cristiano Ronaldo's £250,000+ after tax weekly wages when he in fact does not spend hours in a theatre saving a gunshot victim or gently compressing the failing heart of a neonate who only needs basic gadgets and ventilators to ensure survival. They do not ever consider the risks of the profession as similar to what oil rig workers face on onshore and offshore stations. Information abounds on the web even for mediocre journalists to critically compare and contrast the ongoing impasse in the nation's health sector. Many are only riled on by primitive sentiments, personal experience or sheer gossip to continue to peddle falsehood, half truths or induced information financed by the government machinery to further discredit doctors. This medium is not being used in anyway to absolve medical practitioners of any blame whatsoever, it is meant to focus or redirect all who read to the bigger picture and the more important issues. Israeli doctors called off a 5month old strike in August 2011 after a near 11months period of negotiation. The parties involved eventually locked themselves in a room and reached a compromise that not only involved a 49% pay rise, additional recruitment of 1000 doctors, increase in wages for doctors not situated in more developed locations, increases for doctors practicing in fields with less specialists but also a 10year truce to ensure that both sides abided by their agreements. The other health workers soon started their agitations thereafter but the fact remains that they found a solution instead of attempts at blackmail or adoption of measures devoid of logic and already proven to lead nowhere. Lagos state did it and now the FG has followed suit. Are resident doctors working for the president that does not even consult them or Nigerians who need their services? Was he there when teaching hospitals were established and when compromises were reached to establish an improved residency training program to halt the brain drain of the 80s? What exactly is his game plan and policy for the Nigerian health sector? Does it involve access to surgeries in Germany where his wife testified to have died 7 times before resurrecting? Does it entail having a chest examination in London, a PET scan in America, a renal transplant in India and a tummy tuck in Brazil? He once said "Nigeria is not poor, we only need to redistribute the wealth". Would that not be a good way to redistribute our mammoth resources evidenced by the number of private jets that accompany the presidential fleet whenever they embark on their regular world tours and jamborees? Kenyans experienced our show of profuse wealth, their skies are yet to recover fully. Murtala Mohammed (whose name I think should not be on our Lagos international airport) embarked on a nationwide purge of perceived incompetent workers inclusive of soldiers from August to November 1975; he was gone by February of 76. Uncontrolled laying off or highhanded management of large number of people hardly works, it more often than not backfires. If the present declaration stands, it would only serve to catalyze the exodus of the last breed of health care workers that yet have reserve hope in a functional Nigeria. The students closest to the exit doors of their respectively programs have seen this hopeless events and must now be convinced beyond doubt that it will come down to either USMLE or a daunting task of working in Nigeria with a barrel pressed firmly against their temples. I am certain that this event has had a ricochet effect on the psyche of the often reactionary JOHESU members who must by now feel dispensable after observing the FG casually dismiss the strongest and most effective working force in tertiary health institutions. They may in fact be exhibiting undue bravado in public declaring how deserving of the sack the arrogant and greedy doctors are but we can be rest assured that they will start to thread with caution subsequently during labour disputes.
My teeming colleagues need not worry about this accidental discharge from the stomodeum of our legendary emperor whose face normally changes. His face only changed since there has not been any large scale bombing in recent days and weeks. The mouth piece of the DSS who warned Nigerians to desist from insulting the president (who we must in fact thank for his restraint and tolerance despite possessing unmatched powers), postulated yesterday an inverse relationship between the onset of a bombing and the victory of the APC in any state election. Understanding such science is beyond me but I want to assume that the heavy loss of the PDP to Ogbeni could have equated a bomb blast that caused the president's face to change towards doctors particularly the residents who are just a letter away from equating his powers. He has been known to take rash decisions in the past and then retract. He removed subsidy on petrol and brought the pump price down to 97 naira; we cannot forget the genius early morning decision to rename UNILAG after the very controversial MKO Abiola or the decision to withdraw the super eagles from all competitions following a dreadful period of performance. Lagos state experienced such backlash in the recent past and must be in the best position to advise the president of the largest economy in Africa. Grab your popcorn and soda, this comedy of errors may just shift into another gear of the hilarious and ridiculous.
I wonder why it took the management of a foremost hospital in Lagos a coverage of the sorry state of the toilets to effect much needed change. It took the expose by channels tv on the pathetic state of the police college for the authorities to move into action after feigning ignorance. We do not quite know the present state of recovery of that school in Lagos. I am glad the patients on the wards will now have a befitting rest room, I am however concerned that the rubble of broken tiles and porcelain will remain in place, unevacuated like virtually every construction and reconstruction site in this geographical expression.
Joa
15/08/2014
No comments:
Post a Comment