By ABEL JOHNGOLD ORHEUATA
Dr. Victor Azubuike Osiatuma has stated that the Federal Medical Center (FMC), Asaba, remained the foremost tertiary health center in Delta State.
Dr. Osiatuma, who is the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of FMC Asaba, made the statement yesterday in Asaba, while responding to questions from pressmen and clearing the air on some certain allegations and misinformation in the social media space last month.
While saying that FMC Asaba is still at their best to provide special medical care for people residing in Delta State and it’s environs, he noted that “Tertiary care is a level above secondary health care, that has been defined as highly specialised medical care, usually provided over an extended period of time, that involves advanced and complex diagnostics, procedures and treatments performed by medical specialists in state-of-the-art facilities so we will always be professional here in FMC Asaba”.
He said “It brought to my notice on one or two occasions of some encounters where a lady under her husband’s NHIS clinic mis-administered/misapplied drugs on her daughter and when the child started reacting to the misapplied drugs her husband vented his outburst on the hospital personnel instead of the wife who ought to be the child’s first doctor at home. A mother is supposed to read prescriptions before giving it to the child instead the woman who was already administering Artesunate on the child told doctor in FMC here that she only gave the child paracetamol which made the doctor to prescribe Camosunate which made the child to start reacting as a result of overdose. And not until personnel started investigation before discovering that the child was overdosed. And while investigation was going on the father who is journalist blamed the hospital for the child’s reactions to drugs. An outburst that awashed the social media space.”
On the alleged rejection of a patient from the hospital’s surgical Clinic because there was no light, that was abandoned in the hospital ambulance, the Chief Medical Director said though he would investigate the true position of the allegation but wondered why should that be because before a patient is taken for surgery he or she must have been admitted into a bed or couch so is expected to return to same bed on return from the surgical Clinic.
“If they rejected the patient because there was no light what happened to the patient bed before leaving for the surgery. Besides, the only time there could be no light in the hospital is when there is going to be changeover to alternative power supply.
The way the hospital operate is that we do not like to just accept patients without proper attention for the patients.
We have limited bed space and couches to receive patients and we do not like to receive patients on the floor neither do we manage patients on the way bench. We believe patients should be properly received and attended to so when the limited beds and couches are filled up they will be directed to go somewhere else because population is growing everyday so serving all at a time could be difficult but nobody wants to hear that as they feel they don’t want to be attended to…but if you are in doubt just call the Servicom number to come and ensure that there was no bed space. Why you need to call the Servicom number is for them to come over and check if there are no bed space or couch.
Dr. Osiatuma urged the public to be using the ServiCom numbers placed in strategic places in the hospital to always take advantage of lodging their complaints for quicker response. That’s the job of ServiCom officers here.
On perceived medical Professionals lackadaisical attitudes towards patients,
Dr. Osiatuma said people would always feel offended when they haven’t been attended to forgotten that the doctor is busy attending to other patients or other things that are still as important as your situation. People don’t understand how some department work here, some department do not crisscross and when you meet such doctor you would think he does not want to attend to you.
During working hours General Out Patients Clinic (GOPC) resolved most cases because it run till 7pm but some patients are referred there they complained that movement is too much.
While promising to investigate the alleged rejection of a patient from the surgical Clinic, the Chief Medical Director of FMC Asaba said before surgery a patient must have been provided or admitted to a bed so after the surgery the patient goes back to his/her bed because he or she already has a bed so why rejecting the patient.
Also making clarification on challenges surrounding access to NHIS services especially that of getting Code from Health Management Organizations (HMOs) to enable patients commence treatment, Dr. Osiatuma disclosed that some persons that have retired connived with medical personnel to get free drugs and before you know it drugs worth millions of naira will be unaccounted for so the strict measures and due process is one of the ways of accounting for drugs supply if not some persons could take the drugs home and sell.