Health Commissioner set to revamp health care system

Dr. Dominic Inyang Ukpong

BY NSEOBONG DAVID

The State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Dominic Inyang Ukpong has declared his readiness to revamp health care system in the state.  He made this known last week in Uyo during a chat with newsmen in the state.

According to the health boss, the health Care system in the state is very much down and almost extinct.  He said that the system is very  poor in terms of shortage of staff and health facilities, which has made may patients to turn their backs on the hospital system and prefer to go to traditional healers and herbalists, while many others go to church for medical attentions. 

Dr. Ukpong said: “There is nothing wrong in going to church to be prayed for, but I think that it is very wrong for any pastor to tell anybody not to go to the hospital.  God is not limited to only the church, no building can contain the Almighty God. He is everywhere, whether you’re in the hospital or submarine, the prayers of our people would get to God because God is everywhere.  When somebody is in the hospital, your prayers for the person can also heal the person.  A pastor can go to the hospital and quietly lay hands on the person, but to tell somebody not to go to the hospital; you will be held responsible for the person’s life.”

He added that the reason why people don’t go to the hospital are either by misdirection or because some of them go to the hospital but they don’t see medical staff to attend to them, or sometimes there are no drugs and the normal hospital care that any patient should have, are not made available so they go to the herbalists who would talk to them, perhaps show kindness, and give them herbs which may have side effects on their health.  He also said: “Another reason why people don’t go to the hospital is the attitude of the medical staff, from the doctors down to the security men at the gate.  The health workers show all kinds of hostile attitude.  The empathy that people used to have for patients as health workers, have been lost totally.”

He continued: “Some beds in the hospitals don’t have bedsheets, some of them that have bed sheets are dirty, with no one to wash them.  Some of the hospitals, their beds have been as old as thirty, forty years.  No adequate security, hence the nurses run away from the staff quarters for fear of armed robbers or rapists, and patients have problems of not having health workers to attend to their emergency health conditions.  A lot have decay in the health system; even in the Primary Health Care which is supposed to be handled by the Local Government have been left to decay.  They don’t pay the nurses, they don’t pay any staff that is there and the people are working without salaries.  They find it difficult to cope, so they turn the hospitals to farmlands; wherever there is a piece of land, it is sown with cassava, corn etc., and it is discovered that it is the nursing staff that planted those crops to be able to survive.  Many things have gone wrong, if you try to cover it up, you’re lying.  You cannot lie to yourself and have a solution”.

Dr. Ukpong observed that although the Ibom Specialist hospital is one of the most beautiful edifices, it does not have the needed facilities to attend to the health needs of the people in the state, because its foundation (which is the Primary Health Care) has been left in shambles. He announced his readiness to review the hospital system from Primary Health system, and make it have the necessary facilities, which would lead to the repositioning of the Ibom Specialist hospital. He assured that when the health system in the state is revamped, medical tourism would reverse and Akwa Ibom people would not be going to India or anywhere in the world for medical attentions, but that people from other states would be attracted to the specialist hospital.  

He reiterated the need to focus on Primary Health Care, but hinted that due to shortage of funds, the state government may not have enough funds to revive all the collapsed health facilities in the Primary Health Centres at a blow, but assured that the government would employ every avenue to give the healthcare system a face lift in the state. 

The health boss said:  “We are trying to rationalize.  If we have about five hospitals around a particular LGA, whatever the category (cottage, comprehensive, etc), it will be wisdom to say we should revamp at least two, make it work, pay the salaries, provide enough staff etc., and the people will start benefitting from it.  Then as the money comes, we can now begin to touch the other ones. 

Then if we do that, somebody will ask: what happens if the two hospitals we chose are far from some areas?  We have decided to establish emergency medical service.  The emergency medical service would be able to reach and attend to a person for medical service within 20 minutes.  A three-digit number would be made available to the people as soon as it is available, to enable every persons residing in Akwa Ibom to access the emergency medical services.

Dr. Ukpong thanked the State Governor, Deacon Udom Emmanuel for his honesty and integrity in supporting the vision concerning revamping the healthcare system of the state, and promised that in no distant time, health care services would be made accessible and affordable to the people.