Your unfriendly conduct forces Nigerians to seek medicare abroad, Buhari tells health workers

The Nigeria’s President, Mohammadu Buhari has alleged the health workers in the country as major factor responsible for the citizens to seek medical care abroad, linking the development to what he described as their unfriendly attitude.

Penpushing reports that, Buhari said this on Monday at the official commissioning of an International Conference Centre and Telemedicine hall and six other projects at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Abeokuta, Ogun state capital.

The President represented by the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, called on the need for regular training and retraining of health workers to deliver quality health care services to Nigerians.

“We still get all too often for comfort, disconcerting reports of not friendly attitudes of staff to patients, reports of unhygienic and housekeeping standards that leaves something to be desired even in the presence of sophisticated equipment and well qualified doctors’, he said.

“Such simple failings like this, are more frequently responsible for the loss of confidence of the end users in our health system than even the lack of equipment.They are the triggers for the distrust that will lead people to go on medical tourism’.

“We have a lot of work to do in that area and I want to believe that the managers of our hospitals after such laudable, fantastic infrastructure investment we now begin to pay attention, not only to improving staff harmony and welfare, but to retraining health care givers for even better professionalism that deliver service in a productive and courteous atmosphere based on the lessons we learnt from our traditional African hospitality”, he stated.

Penpushing further reports that, the President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan in his remarks said , the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic had given the Federal government the opportunity to provide additional resources, particularly for infrastructure that will enable Nigeria address outbreak of pandemics in the future.

The Senate President represented by the Chairman of Senate Committee on Health, Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe, disclosed that, the Federal government is building 10 bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU) centres, 30 bed isolation centres and well equipped, functional molecular laboratories in every of the 52 Federal Medical Centres (FMCs) across the country.

 Penpushing also reports that, Lawan gave assurance that, the bill on the establishment of Ogun State university of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Abeokuta would be passed by the National Assembly before the end of April.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila while speaking said, the projects were evidences of the fulfilment of promises made by the government and signified the continued progress of the Federal Medical Centre( FMC).

“It is the cardinal responsibility to ensure the welfare and the wellbeing of the people. Providing access to quality health care services that our people can afford is one way we serve their best interest”, Gbajabiamila.

 Penpushing reports that, earlier in his speech, the Medical Director of the hospital Prof. Adewale Musa-Olomu said the centre is the first in the country to have a telemedicine hall, boasting that the centre has successfully performed more than 300 brain tumour surgeries since the establishment of the neurosurgical and cardiothoratic units.

The Medical Director expressed the optimism that, the hospital would be upgraded to a Teaching Hospital with the establishment of the University of Medicine and Medical Sciences.

Meanwhile,other dignitaries at the event included: former governor, Chief Olusegun Osoba, the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo and Minister of State for Health, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora among others.

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