Tayo Haastrup is the Public Relations Officer (PRO), Management Information Services, National Hospital, Abuja, in this interview with Nanna Selkur and Rose Adah, he stated that the hospital is working round the clock to expand the facilities and manpower to handle pressures from the large number of patients that visit it on daily basis. Excerpts:
GIVE US A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL HOSPITAL.
The former first lady, Her Excellency, Hajia Mariam Abacha through her pet project which is the Family Support Programme incorporated the Family Support Trust Fund and the proceeds were used in building the hospital strictly for women and children. The hospital was constructed by Julius Berger and well equipped as at that time and it was commissioned by the former head of state, General Abdulsalam? Abubakar, on May 22, 1999. Actually the hospital commenced full services on 1st September, 1999.
?Our initial mandate was to cater for women and children in Nigeria and the West African sub-region, but in the year 2000, the Federal Government expanded the services of the hospital to accommodate males and females.
?That was why the name of the hospital was changed to National Hospital; it was initially National Hospital for Women and Children.
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WHAT SERVICES ARE RENDERED IN THE HOSPITAL THAT ARE NOT COMMON IN OTHERS?
We render so many services here. First, we have the accident and emergency operation which is in 24 hour basis. We have the intensive care unit for very serious cases, we have the operating theatre, we have the minor and major operating theatres. Of course we have the labour ward, theatre and facilities which are also available in the hospital. We have pediatrics and care services for sick children, we have radio diagnostic services, using the ultra modern x-ray machines, citiscom, MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). We have the section for chemo dialysis for kidney patients, which is also functioning. We have cancer treatment services unit and other equipment for cancer treatment and of course to cater for private patients and special patients.We have what we call private wing in the hospital.
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WHAT IS THE STAFF STRENGTH?
Well, as at today, we have over 1,600 staff, talking about nurses and doctors. You know we have four directorates here; we have the Clinical Directorate, the Administrative Directorate, Finance Directorate and the Maintenance Directorate. So, this is the entire manpower in the hospital with different fields and assignments.
Let me also let you know that we’re the only institution responsible for the training of nurses at post basic level in oncology and chemo dialysis. We are also involved in the training of radiographers and therapy treatment in Nigeria in collaboration with the? Nigerian Institute of Radiographers and Medical Imaging. We have a Nuclear Medicine Department in the National Hospital, it’s a recent one, it is a new field in medical practice. We have a consultant who is a specialist in that area, he is one of the pioneers of that field in Nigeria, he is the present head of the department.
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WHAT IS NUCLEAR MEDICINE?
It provides new specialty to our esteemed patients. I’m not a medical doctor, I’m just trying to say the little I know but we learnt from the head of the unit that it is a rare special area in medicine. It’s a modern development in medicine which helps in detecting so many issues about cancer and oncology related cases.
And for now, we have a building outside which is called a trauma centre. It is under construction. In few months, we will have one of the best trauma centre in Nigeria.
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APART FROM THE NEW TRAUMA CENTRE, WHAT IS THE HOSPITAL DOING CONCERNING BED SPACES PROBLEMS?
Well, I’ve said this from time to time, we’re under pressure, and we have a lot of people coming to the hospital. As the population of this city increases, of course it also tells on the National Hospital. We are trying to expand, expansion in terms of facilities and manpower.
?There is an ongoing recruitment to increase the strength of manpower in the hospital and we have new buildings for the purpose of extending our bed spaces, but generally, the location of this place makes it to be limited in terms of massive expansion.
?But somebody from the House of Reps Committee was here recently and they suggested that there is a possibility of having a bigger land somewhere and developing it, but even with the limited space we have, we are trying to do our best to make sure we render services to the populace.
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HOW SOON IS THE BUILDING GOING TO BE COMPLETED?
It’s going to be within a short period because they’re fixing the equipment, getting beds and things we’ll be using. For now, we’re working with about 200-250 beds spaces and by that time, we should be hoping to get over 500. The spaces will increase as soon as we commission those buildings.
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WITH THE ONGOING RECRUITMENT, WE DO HOPE THAT THE NUMBER OF DOCTORS WILL INCREASE TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF PEOPLE WAITING FOR LONG HOURS BEFORE BEING ATTENDED TO.
This is not the first time we’re recruiting and as demand increases in terms of more clients and patients, we also from time to time increase the manpower. On the issue of long waiting, we have a process.
?When you come in as an out-patient, I’m not talking about emergency, you are supposed to have the hospital card through the medical records, and from the medical records we send the patient to the nurse to check the BP and other things.
?And the nurse at that particular unit will send the folder to the doctor and the doctor will have to clack the patient, clacking means getting the history, the background of what is going on and documenting. These are the processes. Nevertheless when you come and you are complaining you don’t have time or that they are wasting your time, we need to have a little patience in all aspects of our lives in this country. You can’t jump the queue. Making payments, you pay to any of the cashiers located within the system and when you have been attended to by the nurses and documented, you will be referred back to the cashier for the payment of registration fee.
The system is working through that way and we are really trying our best to cut down the long waiting in the hospital to reduce complaints.
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WE HAVE HEARD THAT BILLS ARE ON THE HIGH SIDE, ESPECIALLY AT THE LABORATORY, WHY IS THIS SO?
Initially, the hospital was supposed to be a specialist hospital, it’s not a place set up for headaches, malaria and the rest. But because of the location within the FCT, the population within the environment and because of the change in name and influx in the system, everybody comes for services ranging from headaches to malaria. We don’t turn down patients. We attend to anybody that comes in. But I tell you, it’s just because people don’t have information, there are grades of test we conduct here. There are some little ones that go for N500 and there are others that are high. The most important thing is that we get this money from our patients and still put the money back to the system.
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WHAT IF A PATIENT CANNOT? AFFORD THE BILLS?
Well, if you can’t afford it, we have other hospitals in this town. This is not the only hospital. We have Maitama, Garki, Asokoro and others.
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WHAT YOU ARE SAYING NOW IS THAT THE NATIONAL HOSPITAL IS NOT FOR THE AVERAGE NIGERIAN.
National Hospital is for all Nigerians. I told you we have a private wing here where you pay about N10,000 or N15,000 per night. We have six bedded wards, where you pay about N1,500. We have wards that have two beds, where you pay about N5,000. So when you come, you find your level. It is for everybody, but it is in categories. If you are patient enough to be well informed, you will find where to fit in.
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WHAT IS THE WAY FORWARD TOWARDS MAKING INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC?
The hospital has a department which is Management Information Services. We provide the necessary information and at the same time attend to all complaints. We have Servicom Unit in the hospital that deals promptly with complaints.
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THERE HAVE BEEN COMPLAINTS ABOUT NURSES’ LACKADAISICAL ATTITUDE TO WORK, WHAT CAN YOU SAY ABOUT THAT?
Thank you. Of course attitude matter is a general one in all establishments and in all organisations. Part of what government did was to bring out Servicom to address the attitude of Nigerians generally. Attitude is not only peculiar to National Hospital, either positive or negative but because we are talking about health matters, it is more pronounced. But the attitude of people in the hospital should be more welcoming. I will not say that we have the best attitude but there is no way we’ll not see few ones in any organisation. We are working on that. We particularly have issues about the nurses and we have a unit, the department of nursing which has an assistant director including the educational unit that talks, enlightens and lectures them professionally on the right attitude and service delivery towards patients. We’ll get there. We are addressing it.
Outside the hospital, do you think Nigeria can boast of having a hospital that can really treat patients without being flown abroad?
One of the main objectives of the federal government is to have this hospital to cater for Nigerians. There is no need to go abroad for medical services as far as we have this hospital, but funding is important to take it to that level. There was a time past governments stated that you can’t go for treatment abroad until you have patronized the services of one of the best hospitals in the country. And the best we have so far is the National Hospital, this is our pride. The government is trying but we expect more funding, we have the best hands. We should be proud of what we have, we should believe in it. We have experts here, the CMD is one of the best surgeons we have in the country, and we have pediatricians and consultants here and there.
As a National Hospital, how do you network with other hospitals in terms of referral cases?
So many people come in here that there are times we don’t have bed spaces, but what we do is to make sure we save lives first, we stabilize the patient and when we have stabilized the patient and there is no bed space, we refer you to either Garki, Maitama or Asokoro hospital. We don’t reject patients. There are some terminal diseases that only God can respond to, some patients might have been admitted in private hospitals and after they have collected their money, they push them to us, if they die here, the people will begin to say it is the National hospital that killed such patient. Some patients are even brought in as dead patients.
How can we achieve the millennium development goals in terms of health care service delivery
Well, we have a new lady at the MDG . We have shifted from 2015 to 2020, but the most important thing is that lets us use the resources we have, if we have been realistic we know that we wouldn’t be able to achieve all these things, but let us continue to push forward and be faithful, in our objectives and we hope to get there, we hope also that even if we don’t get there, we can re-strategies on how to achieve these goals.
How can the NHA help rural dwellers in terms of health care provision????
We at national hospital the only way we can say to collaborate with rural areas is to admit patients from rural areas, the fulanis have been here, but don’t forget that the government have the primary health care and hopeful government is making available manpower to be able to manage? these rural areas, we cannot say that we will leave here and go to kuje to attend to patients ,no! that is for the FCT. We at the national hospital have the responsibility to serve Nigerians in very special cases.
Is there a scheme for those that cannot afford to pay their bills
Yes we have what is called social welfare. If I tell you the amount that we wave in a year you will be surprised. People come and because of the mandate we have to save life we treat them, after that there will be nobody to pick their bills, we have often wave those bills. But don’t forget, there are those that come here and pretend not to have anybody, those ones we cannot do anything about. However we usually do this waving after we have conducted investigation about your background.
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