By Austin Ogwuda
…. I heard stories, some not too palatable about the relationship between staff and patients
THE acting Medical Director of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Dr. Ekene Omo has been tasked to, as a matter of urgency, deal with the bad reputation the hospital has gained over time in the way some of the staff treat patients with ignominy.
This admonition was handed down to him by the Asagba of Asaba, Obi (Prof) Epiphany Azinge when he paid a familiarisation visit to the hospital on Monday.
He charged acting Medical Director to change the narratives about the ill treatment meted to patients seeking medical attention at the Centre while promising to draw attention of sons and daughters of the Asaba community especially those in the diaspora to the challenges facing the health institution.
The Asagba also expressed sadness about the absence of Computed Tomography (CT) scan and dialysis facilities.
His words,
“Running a hospital of this calibre requires both infrastructural facilities and human capacity. We have heard so much about the facilities on ground. In the same vein we have also been told about some of the great exploits made by your medical team in terms of new discoveries made, which are considered to be the first of their kind in this environment.
“We appreciate the ingenuity of members of your staff. But I have also heard stories, some not too palatable about the relationship between staff and patients. That I will want us to look at closely. Anyone working in the hospital environment is rendering service of a special kind and is expected to demonstrate empathy and show signs of humanity in relating with patients.
“I listened attentively to some of the demands made by the Acting Medical Director. Indeed I discussed them with him. It cannot be said that there is no CT scan here. It cannot be said that one cannot easily arrange for dialysis in this environment. Well, that’s part of why we are here, because from here I will be speaking to members of the Asaba community in the diaspora, especially the Medics among them.
“I am appealing to them to see what they can do about some of these demands so that by December at least some donations would have been made to this place”.
He finally commended the Hospital’s medical and health workers for their dedication to duty at a time their colleagues elsewhere were jetting out of the country (jakpa) in search of greener pastures, assuring them that Asaba, under his watch, would support every effort to improve their working conditions.
Earlier in a welcome address, the Acting Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Ekene Omo thanked the Asagba for the visit.
He recalled that as the President General of Asaba Development Union (ADU) worldwide, the Asagba introduced the bi-monthly medical outreach which brought together healthcare professionals to render free healthcare services to indigent patients in Asaba and earlier this year inaugurated the Asaba Healthcare Supervisory and Management Committee to bridge the healthcare gap in the community.
He traced the history of the hospital to 1998 when the then Asaba General Hospital was upgraded to a Federal Medical Centre to provide tertiary health services to the people of Delta State and beyond.
While saying that recently the hospital’s neurosurgical team successfully carried out a complex procedure, while a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit established by the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas Company had been commissioned in the hospital, the Acting Medical Director highlighted some of the challenges facing the institution and solicited the support of Asaba sons and daughters in addressing some of them.
The visit was rounded off with a guided tour of some of the facilities in the hospital by the Asagba
*The Asagba of Asaba, Obi (Prof) Epiphany Azinge, on guided tour of the hospital.
*Credit: Gallant Reporters
