The Nation Newspaper

Tag: hospital

  • Hospital to offer free mental health screening

    What is the mental health of your  workers and how do you determine a sane level of healthy mental health?

    These and more  will  be on focus at the retreat on mental health/awareness, being organised by The Retreat, a private mental hospital in Ikorodu, Lagos.

    The evnt will hold on Tuesday, ….. at 10 am.

    According to the hospital’s Chief Executive, Dr Olufemi Oluwatayo, the theme of this year’s World Mental Health Day focuses on “Mental health at the work place as professionals in psychiatry know that many employers and organisations do not see issues of mental health at the workplace as a priority and many employees may be suffering in silence.

    ‘’We, therefore, feel that this is an opportunity to help screen people for common mental disorders such as anxiety and depression and advise on treatment pathways if necessary. We are offering free screening services; skilled doctors will be on call both on the phone and at the Retreat campus in Ikorodu to offer confidential help.”

    This will be backd up by The Retreat’s psychiatrists, mental health nurses, therapist assistants, an occupational therapist and a top clinical psychologist in Ikorodu.

    Oluwatayo said the screening would be coordinated by him. “I am a former Health Advisor to the Lagos State Government, and a World Health Organisaton (WHO) scholar, writer, and a mental health advocate. I am also a Welcome Research Fellow and lecturer at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom.

    “In line with the WHO objectives, The Retreat, through the mental awareness and free screening, aims to add value to mental services across board, including education and raising awareness about mental issues in Nigeria ,” Oluwatayo added.

  • Court hears suit against hospital

    The National Industrial Court, Abuja, has fixed November 2 for hearing of the suit by Mr. Kayode Obisanya, against the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Kaduna.

    The claimant joined Dr. Taiwo Lateef-Sheikh, the medical director of Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Kaduna as a co- respondent.

    Obisanya, an estate officer in the hospital, is challenging the purported unlawful termination of his appointment in May 2015.

    He urged the court to order for his reinstatement, saying due process was not followed in the termination of his appointment.

    Obisanya prayed the court to order the respondents to pay him his entitlements and grant him damages.

    At the resumed hearing yesterday, the claimant’s counsel, Mrs. Anne Ibinola, told the court that the business of the court was for the hearing of the suit.

    However, the case could not go on because the respondent’s lawyer was indisposed.

    Justice Edith Agbakoba adjourned the suit till November 2 for hearing, pending application by the respondent, as well as for definite hearing of the case.

     

  • NMA to Buhari: Equip Nigerian hospitals like UK’s before 2019

    NMA to Buhari: Equip Nigerian hospitals like UK’s before 2019

    The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has risen from its August 2017 National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, asking President Muhammadu Buhari to replicate medical equipment he had seen in London, United Kingdom in Nigerian hospitals before the end of his tenure.

    The umbrella body of medical practitioners in the country said Doctors in the country would have been able to handle the President’s health challenge if the health sector had been properly equipped and funded.

    NMA in its communique issued and jointly signed by its National President and Secretary General, Professor Mike Ozovehe Ogirima and Dr. Yusuf Tanko Sununu respectively after their just concluded National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Kaduna said it has “resolved to call on the President to utilize his positive experience in the health systems of other climes to impact on the health care system in Nigeria.”

    Reading the communiqué to newsmen Professor Ogirima said, Nigerian doctors are competent to handle any form of ailment if enabling environment and good working tools are on ground, adding that the President may have sought for medical attention outside the shores of this country perhaps as a result of ill-equipped hospitals in the country.

    According to him, “the nature of the President’s ailment is not known to NMA, and even if it is known to us, we have to respect our oath of secrecy. The President like every other citizen of this country has the right to seek second opinion, that is part of medical practice. However, the Doctors in Nigeria are capable of handling any ailment if optimal working conditions are provided.

    “We have read and heard on BBC that, the President does not believe in the Nigerian health system. What was wrong by the President going outside? It is a fact that our hospitals are not optimally equipped. Am sure that, the President after spending 100 days in London has first hand experience of what we have been shouting, equip! Equip! Upgrade our hospitals.

    “We are happy that the President is back. Based on his experience, we are saying he should come and replicate what he has seen in London, at least to take care of the masses. So, we expect him to replicate such within the next two years.”
    According to the communique, “the NEC observed with dismay the continuous low budgetary allocation to health leading to declining health care service delivery in the country.

    “The the NEC observed with dismay the worsening availability, distribution, development and utilization of human resources for health within Nigeria’s health system and the increasing trend of brain drain especially affecting the already weakened man power base in the country.

    “NEC calls on government to implement the Abuja Declaration of at least 15 percent budgetary allocation to health and ensure timely release of funds with effect from 2018 budget and appealed to the National Assembly to fast track the passage of the bill on Residency Training Program (RTP) in Nigeria.

    “NEC calls for the improvement in Epidemic control, preparedness and establishment of more Infectious Disease Hospitals (IDH) through out the country, and that the government to intensify efforts to improve funding on immunization services and further strengthen the collaboration between government and non governmental agencies,” NMA stated.

  • Oshiomhole criticises PDP’s comment on hospital

    Oshiomhole criticises PDP’s comment on hospital

    Former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole has described as untrue comments by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that he deceived President Mohammadu Buhari to inaugurate the new five-star Central Hospital Complex by borrowing equipment to instal in the hospital.

    Oshiomhole said the comments of the PDP was the cry of a people still licking their wounds from the Supreme Court defeat.

    Oshiomhole told reporters  his administration paid 75 per cent of the total value of state-of-the-art equipment ordered.

    He said figures churned out by the PDP as cost of the hospital did not make sense ‘even to a fool’.

    Oshiomhole noted that the contractor got caught in the foreign exchange crisis and could not get enough forex to order for the equipment.

    His words: “First, it is good news for them to agree that a new hospital has been built because in some other statements they had said there was no new hospital. I have seen PDP turn out numbers that did not make sense even to a fool as regards amount of the project.  The only point that I think is worth commenting is when I read somewhere that we hired or borrowed equipment to bring to the hospital for the President to inaugurate.

    “Again, it shows how empty-headed PDP leadership in Edo State and their spokesperson are. If you borrowed equipment from someone, how come the lender has not come to recover his equipment. And those equipment are still there.

    “As you can see even from the one that has been delivered and installed. But the contractor which is not a one-man business, Verment, they are not one local contractor that PDP can go and sublet contract to.”

  • Three hospital workers held over boy’s death

    Three hospital workers held over boy’s death

    Three workers with an hospital in Ikeja, Lagos, have been arrested over the death of a 14-year-old boy, Tobi Bakare, the police said yesterday.

    Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in charge of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence (SCIID), Bolaji Salami said a case of criminal negligence has been established against the hospital.

    Those arrested, he said, would also be charged to court.

    The suspects are being held at the SCIID at Panti, Yaba.

    The police will also conduct an autopsy in the body of Tobi which his parents have reportedly refused to collect from the hospital.

    Salami said: “We established a case of criminal negligence against them. Three people have been arrested in connection with the issue. We found out that they did not administer oxygen on the teenager as when due.

    “They first brought an empty cylinder and later, they brought a leaked, plastered cylinder which they put on the boy.

    “The suspects are those who were on duty and they would be charged to court.”

    Tobi, an only child was admitted at the Allen Avenue, Ikeja-based hospital on June 10, after he ran temperature.

    According to his mum, Mrs. Stella Bakare, he would have been alive if the hospital had administered oxygen on him as when due.

    She accused the hospital of placing the teenager on empty and plastered oxygen cylinder, which he choked on.

    Mrs Bakare said the hospital staff on night duty on June 12 refused to listen to her request that another oxygen be brought when she observed the one her son was on was almost finished.

     

  • Parents, hospital clash over only child’s death

    Parents, hospital clash over only child’s death

    •Police clear hospital of ‘negligence’

    The death of a 14-year-old, Tobi Bakare, has sparked a row between his parents and an Ikeja-Based hospital.

    Tobi, the only child of Mr and Mrs Akeem Bakare, died on June 13, three days after he was admitted in the hospital.

    His parents are blaming his death on the hospital’s negligence.

    But the police have absolved the hospital of any wrong doing, claiming that the boy suffered from a terminal illness.

    The bereaved parents, who have refused to collect their child’s remains, accused the hospital of placing him on a plastered oxygen cylinder, which they claimed he choked on.

    In a petition to Police Commissioner Fatai Owoseni, written through the law firm of Bodede & Bodede, the Bakares accused the hospital of killing Tobi through its negligence.

    According to Mrs. Bakare, Tobi was taken to the hospital situated on Allen Avenue, Ikeja, after he suffered a toothache and ran temperature. She said he was diagnosed of malaria.

    She said the hospital’s staff on night duty on June 12 refused to listen to her request that another oxygen be brought when she observed that the one her son was on was almost finished.

    The woman said: “We took Tobi to the hospital on June 10. He was tested and diagnosed of malaria and the hospital told us an expert (paediatrician) would come and he came on June 12 and saw the CT Scan we did. He said we were lucky. Tobi was given oxygen and when I observed and pointed out that the oxygen will soon finish, the nurses on duty were shouting me down that I shouldn’t teach them their job.

    “I complained about a lot of things at the ward. There was no wheelchair to take Tobi to the ward the day he was admitted. There was also no ambulance to take us for scan. We had to pay the laboratory N5,000 to bring their own ambulance to the hospital. The ward was mosquito infested; they never changed bedsheets and only cleaned the ward once a day with ordinary water. I also complained that the nurses were never observant. I was the one who usually called their attention when drip was not flowing or something was wrong.

    “I kept complaining about the plastered and leaking oxygen. I also told the nurses to change the one he was on since it was almost finished and they might soon sleep but they refused. When the nurses later came to check him, it was too late. After my discovery and call to them to replace the finished oxygen, the doctor and nurses could not do it. They called an elderly man downstairs, who ‘fiddled and fixed’ but definitely, no oxygen passed and around 3am when they woke up, the boy was found dead as he had been on empty cylinder.

    “There was mucus in his mouth, which was not sucked all night. He died with plenty choking mucus.  I observed that the cylinder was leaking and the doctor plastered it. I told them it was still leaking but they ignored me. My son died as a result of the negligence of the nurses and doctor on duty. I reported to a doctor and also put it in writing because I told them I was not going to let them get away with their actions.”

    In the letter to Owoseni, the lawyers described the incident as “a clear case of negligence”.

    “A patient approaching a doctor expects medical treatment with all the knowledge and skill that the doctor possesses to bring relief to his medical problems. A breach of any of these duties gives a cause of action for negligence against the doctor.

    “We are therefore imploring you to kindly arrest, investigate, detain and prosecute the hospital and its staff and bring them to justice. On our part, we pledge to provide the necessary logistics to enable your office deal with this matter in accordance with the provisions of our laws.”

    The command’s spokesman, Olarinde Famous-Cole, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), said he was not aware of the petition, adding that information availed him by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) indicated that the parents abandoned the body of their son.

    He said: “It is not my duty to find out whether a petition was sent to the Commissioner of Police. The information I have from the DPO is what I will tell you. He said that the hospital filed a complaint at the station that the body of a boy who suffered a terminal illness was yet to be collected.

    “The DPO said he has made several calls to the deceased’s parents to hear their side of the story but they have not been forthcoming. That’s all I know about the matter.”

    Efforts to get the hospital’s reaction failed. Contacted on Sunday, it said its medical director was not available and would be around by 10am yesterday.

    Several calls to the hospital yesterday were not picked.

  • Hospital launches lifescan check-up service

    Hospital launches lifescan check-up service

    In a bid geared towards affordable health for all,  Sub Saharan African leading medical group,

    The Reddington Hospital in Lagos has slashed 25 per cent discount for individuals and institutions using its latest technology, the Lifescan Medical Check-up programme.

    It said the programme is valid till September 30, making its services more affordable to the larger population.

    The hospital’s Group Medical Director (GMD), Dr.  Olutunde Lalude, spoke at the inauguration of Lifescan Medical Check-up services, managed by the Reddington Wellness Centre.

    He said the centre is the first of its kind in Nigeria.

    Lalude said the Lifescan is a total body health screening service, providing early detection of critical conditions and life-threatening illnesses.

  • Dialysis centre berths in Bayelsa Government Hospital

    Persons suffering from kidney and renal problems in Bayelsa State can now heave a sigh of relief. They will no longer travel outside the state to seek solutions in medical facilities with dialysis equipment. The state can now boast of having the best dialysis machine in the world in an equipped cozy medical facility.

    In fact, the dialysis centre in the Government House Hospital is the first of its kind. hitherto, the hospital was merely a clinic. It was established to cater for political appointees and Government House employees. Members of the public were denied access to it.

    But Dickson has changed all that. He upgraded it to a hospital status and opened it to members of the public. Indeed, it is a different kind of hospital. The wards and walls are built with comfort and architectural beauty.

    Though it is in Government House, its proximity to the Bayelsa State Diagnostic Centre, one of the best facilities for medical diagnosis in the country, gives the state the confidence of having a complete medical solution. Combined with the diagnostics centre, the hospital has been saving lives.

    The capacity of the hospital to respond to emergencies was tested recently. The management of the facility deployed the state-of-the-art equipment to save the life of Joshia, who was hit by a Pathfinder SUV on the Children’s Day.

    Joshia’s parents and members of the public poured encomiums on the hospital for quickly rising to the occasion by deploying its expertise to salvage a bad situation.

    The four-year-old, who hails from Ekeremor Local Government Area, was on his way to attend one of the parties organised in the state capital for children when his world came crashing at the popular Julius Berger axis of the Sani Abacha Expressway.

    The driver of the vehicle quickly rushed the dying Joshia to the new medical facility. Ebi, an eye-witness gave an account of how the two facilities combined to save the kid.

    Ebi said: “When we got to the Government House Hospital, the CEO, Dr. Hobbot Preye confirmed the receipt of the patient but said, he had a damaged left leg and was referred to the Bayelsa State Diagnostics Center, Imgbi Road for femur X-ray.

    “We quickly contacted the father of the victim, who happens to be a traditional bone doctor. On his arrival, he insisted that he will handle the treatment in the traditional way under his care, but we discouraged him and he later agreed with us.

    “When the X-ray was done, it showed fractured left femur (a broken bone) and total shift of the knee joint. The hospital management contacted an Indian-trained Nigerian Orthopedic Surgeon, Dr. Amefula, to head other white specialists from the United States of America to conduct an orthopedic surgery on baby Joshia.

    “The surgery, which lasted for about three hours, was successful and that the victim was in a stable condition”. With such facilities, Dickson, observers say, is scoring high marks in healthcare.

    Just recently, some medical experts from the U.S. came to tour Dickson’s health facilities. The governor was in ground to conduct them around the Government House hospital and the diagnostic centre. They were all impressed to see medical equipment they thought only existed in their country in Bayelsa.

    Some of them joined the tour in real time through Skype. They had healthy conversation with Dickson who embarked on the tour in the company of some of his cabinet members and members of the House of Assembly led by the Speaker Kombowei Benson.

    The visitors were elated with the dialysis centre. Dickson told them it was part of his revolution in the health sector. He said his state was leading the country to stop traveling to US and other foreign countries to seek medical help.

    Dickson said: “This is a statement we are making that Bayelsa has changed and we are waging a silent revolution for change, development and posterity. And this is one of the health care investment the state has made.

    “This is the first time we are having dialysis facilities in the state? and we are glad that our partners, a team of experts from the US are here to oversee these facilities. So with what you are seeing, the diagnostic center and the referral hospitals in the eight local government, you will agree with me that Bayelsa is set for quality health-care delivery”.

    The governor also disclosed that very soon the facilities would be formally opened but in the meantime it could be accessed by patients. He called on Bayelsans who are professionals in the health sector and are currently abroad to return home and contribute their own quota to the growing health system in the state, assuring that they would be fully accommodated.

    He also advised residents in the state to avail themselves of the medical services in the facilities. According to him his administration would continue to advance its strides in the health sector.

  • Borno multiple explosions: Hospital discharges 23 victims

    Dr Laraba Bello, Chief Medical Director of Borno Specialist’s Hospital, said on Saturday that 23 of the 34 victims of last Wednesday’s Maiduguri multiple bomb explosion on admission at the hospital, had been discharged.
    Bello the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri that the remaining patients were in stable condition, receiving adequate medical attention.

    “We received 34 patients, out of which two died within a short while; we have discharged 23 of them, while the remaining nine are responding to treatment and are in stable condition,” she said.
    Authorities at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), also confirmed that 29 victims of the explosion were still on admission at the hospital.
    Dr Bashir Tahir, Chairman of the UMTH Medical Advisory Committee, told NAN that the patients were also in stable condition.
    “Thirty two patients were brought in, out of which three died; the 29 remaining are receiving treatment,” Tahir said.
    He said that the hospital had no challenges offering free treatment to the victims.
    “We have no problem of money in providing treatment to the patients because the Victims Support Fund (VSF) had provided some Money for free treatment of bomb blasts and other attacks,” Tahir said.
    The Borno Police Command had earlier confirmed the killing of 13 persons after the attack.(NAN)

  • Dialysis centre berths in Bayelsa Government Hospital

    Persons suffering from kidney and renal problems in Bayelsa State can now heave a sigh of relief. They will no longer travel outside the state to seek solutions in medical facilities with dialysis equipment. The state can now boast of having the best dialysis machine in the world in an equipped cozy medical facility.

    In fact, the dialysis centre in the Government House Hospital is the first of its kind. hitherto, the hospital was merely a clinic. It was established to cater for political appointees and Government House employees. Members of the public were denied access to it.

    But Dickson has changed all that. He upgraded it to a hospital status and opened it to members of the public. Indeed, it is a different kind of hospital. The wards and walls are built with comfort and architectural beauty.

    Though it is in Government House, its proximity to the Bayelsa State Diagnostic Centre, one of the best facilities for medical diagnosis in the country, gives the state the confidence of having a complete medical solution. Combined with the diagnostics centre, the hospital has been saving lives.

    The capacity of the hospital to respond to emergencies was tested recently. The management of the facility deployed the state-of-the-art equipment to save the life of Joshia, who was hit by a Pathfinder SUV on the Children’s Day.

    Joshia’s parents and members of the public poured encomiums on the hospital for quickly rising to the occasion by deploying its expertise to salvage a bad situation.

    The four-year-old, who hails from Ekeremor Local Government Area, was on his way to attend one of the parties organised in the state capital for children when his world came crashing at the popular Julius Berger axis of the Sani Abacha Expressway.

    The driver of the vehicle quickly rushed the dying Joshia to the new medical facility. Ebi, an eye-witness gave an account of how the two facilities combined to save the kid.

    Ebi said: “When we got to the Government House Hospital, the CEO, Dr. Hobbot Preye confirmed the receipt of the patient but said, he had a damaged left leg and was referred to the Bayelsa State Diagnostics Center, Imgbi Road for femur X-ray.

    “We quickly contacted the father of the victim, who happens to be a traditional bone doctor. On his arrival, he insisted that he will handle the treatment in the traditional way under his care, but we discouraged him and he later agreed with us.

    “When the X-ray was done, it showed fractured left femur (a broken bone) and total shift of the knee joint. The hospital management contacted an Indian-trained Nigerian Orthopedic Surgeon, Dr. Amefula, to head other white specialists from the United States of America to conduct an orthopedic surgery on baby Joshia.

    “The surgery, which lasted for about three hours, was successful and that the victim was in a stable condition”. With such facilities, Dickson, observers say, is scoring high marks in healthcare.

    Just recently, some medical experts from the U.S. came to tour Dickson’s health facilities. The governor was in ground to conduct them around the Government House hospital and the diagnostic centre. They were all impressed to see medical equipment they thought only existed in their country in Bayelsa.

    Some of them joined the tour in real time through Skype. They had healthy conversation with Dickson who embarked on the tour in the company of some of his cabinet members and members of the House of Assembly led by the Speaker Kombowei Benson.

    The visitors were elated with the dialysis centre. Dickson told them it was part of his revolution in the health sector. He said his state was leading the country to stop traveling to US and other foreign countries to seek medical help.

    Dickson said: “This is a statement we are making that Bayelsa has changed and we are waging a silent revolution for change, development and posterity. And this is one of the health care investment the state has made.

    “This is the first time we are having dialysis facilities in the state? and we are glad that our partners, a team of experts from the US are here to oversee these facilities. So with what you are seeing, the diagnostic center and the referral hospitals in the eight local government, you will agree with me that Bayelsa is set for quality health-care delivery”.

    The governor also disclosed that very soon the facilities would be formally opened but in the meantime it could be accessed by patients. He called on Bayelsans who are professionals in the health sector and are currently abroad to return home and contribute their own quota to the growing health system in the state, assuring that they would be fully accommodated.

    He also advised residents in the state to avail themselves of the medical services in the facilities. According to him his administration would continue to advance its strides in the health sector.