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ADAMAWA
HEALTHCARE DELIVERY: THE HOWARD UNIVERISTY VISITORS
By Babayola Toungo <babayolatoungo@yahoo.co.uk>
Aug 19, 2006
There was a news item in
the Daily Trust of Monday July 31st, 2006 to the effect
that physicians from the Howard University in the United States treated
10,000 patients and performed surgery on 300 others in Adamawa State
within a period of two weeks. This may sound laudable as part of the
state government’s effort in providing qualitative healthcare to the
people of the state. But then I asked myself certain questions that I
believe should have been made public by the authorities as part of the
news item. Issues like the number of the physicians who were able to
perform this super human feat by attending to 10,000 patients and
operating on another 300, all within the space of two weeks; also of
concern to me is the amount of money expended to achieve this.
I know both the Howard
University authorities and the people of Adamawa state will very much like
to know the cost implication of this two weeks wonder because the rumours
making the rounds in Yola concerning the visit by the American physician
led by a woman of Igbo extraction – Dr. Catherine Uzoma – is that the sum
of N350 million was expended for the visit, whose main objective is
supposed to be the provision of free healthcare services to the needy.
When the rumour first surfaced, I refused to believe it but then the
frequency with which it is repeated compelled me to write this article in
order to alert the state government and the Howard University on this very
dangerous rumour that has the potential of soiling the image of the
University and putting a dampener on the state government’s laudable
objectives. What I would like to ascertain is whether the University has
a hand in fleecing the poor people of Adamawa, if the rumour is true. I
have tried all possible permutations to understand how possible it is for
the number of doctors that were said to have visited Adamawa from Howard
to undertake surgical operations on 300 people and attend to 10,000 others
all within the space of two weeks. They must be superhuman beings!
Provision of qualitative
healthcare delivery is an important aspect of any government and whosoever
initiated such a project must be lauded for this. But the government and
its doctor collaborators should not be allowed to take the Adamawa people
for a ride. It is a luxury for any government to expend N350million for
some few visiting doctors, who to all intents and purposes might have just
taken a ‘stroll around the park’. This is sheer madness no matter how you
look at it. There are a thousand and one things that could be done with
N350million in the health sector in Adamawa State that will be more
beneficial to the people than bringing in a bunch of carpet baggers from
the USA, who may have no compuction or empathy to the people they are
meant to attend to beyond the exchange rate of the Naira to the Dollar.
If they are not miracle workers, there is no way anyone can convince me
that they have seen and treated 10,000 patients and performed surgery on
300 others all within a two week period. What infrastructure did the
doctors use to carry out their surgeries; which hospital did they utilise
for this unheard of feat? Certainly not the Yola Specialist Hospital!
Because there is no water or electricity, two elementary ingredients for
any succesfull surgery.
I have had cause to write
on the state of healthcare delivery in Adamawa State in the past. I have
given instances of government failure to provide basic necessities in
terms of consumables and equipment to the few hospitals operating in the
state. I know the roofs have been changed and a new coat of paint applied
on the walls, but beyond that, all we have is hollow shells that serve
more as the final bus stop to many a patient who made the mistake of going
to any “renovated/ rehabilitated” government hospital in Adamawa. I have
had cause to visit the “rehabilitated” Ward 13 (Male Medical Ward) of the
Yola Specialist Hospital. What I discovered there then was very
appalling, to say the least. The medical personnel there were exposed to
all kinds of diseases – Aids, Malaria, jaundice, etc. – because there were
no gloves, no disinfectants, no detergent and of course no medicine for
the patients. Electricity and water are luxuries that the hospital
authorities cannot afford.
If it is true that the
state government spent N350million for the visit of the Howard University
Doctors, then it is very sad. This amount of money could have gone into
the provision of water and electricity for all the five hospitals in the
state. Part of it could go along way in providing other consumables to
the hospitals. Basic equipment like X-ray machines, Oxygen tanks and even
beds and beddings are alien to even the staff. To the average healthcare
worker in Adamawa State N350million is a lot amount of money. At the time
the Federal Medical Centre, Yola relocated to their permanent site, there
was no single functional ambulance left at the Yola Specialist Hospital.
How many ambulances can N350million provide? Because if it is difficult
to get a functional ambulance at the Yola Specialist Hospital, what can
one expect at the other hospitals located outside the state capital?
I don’t want to believe
that the Howard University would knowingly lend its hard earned reputation
to this 419. But if that may be the case, then the world should know.
The Adamawa State government has failed woefully in the provision of basic
healthcare to its citizens. The provision of equipment and consumables
has never being a priority area for the government since most state
functionaries travel abroad for routine and everyday medical ailment. If
you are unlucky to have a patient at the Yola Specialist Hospital, the
major hospital in the state capital, you must be prepared to provide your
water needs and that of your patient. Same goes for electricity.
Prescription medicine is a pipe dream.
Adamawa State is among the
states in the north with a high number of doctors, nurses and other
medical auxiliary staff. But lacking the tools of their profession and a
conducive working environment, most choose to either leave the state or go
to places like the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital or the nearby
first class Gombe Referral Hospital. Those that can afford it open their
private clinics and charge patients through the nose. If the state
government is really interested in assisting the people get access to
cheap medical care, they should equip tour hospitals and persuade our
doctors in the “Diaspora” return home, not this one-off rip-off. Throwing
away such huge amount of money in the name of “assisting” the poor is not
our idea of assistance unless the government was out to “assist” Dr.
Catherine Uzoma and Co.
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