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Tag: LUTH

  • ‘Invest in your health’

    There is dearth of medical knowledge among non-professionals in Nigeria, the Acting Chief Medical Director (CMD), Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Prof Chris Bode, has said.

    According to him, people need to be informed about medicine and how things are done.

    Bode, who spoke to reporters on the state of the hospital since he became the Acting CMD, said people often expect miracle from doctors when they come.

    This, he said, should not be because orthodox medicine deals with facts in acceptable standards.

    “We leave miracles to spiritualists. However, we must promote what is ours so that we discourage medical tourism,” he said.

    Medical personnel, he said felt bad anytime a patient dies in the hospital.

    He said people should invest in their health, adding: “They have motor insurance but never a health insurance.

    Bode said the Federal Government cannot do it alone, hence the need for well-meaning people, companies and corporate organisations to lend a hand.

    He urged professionals to think outside of the box.

  • LUTH carries out more kidney transplants

    LUTH carries out more kidney transplants

    Uchendu Azubuike, 44, and Mrs Fadule Abdullahi, 39, have some things in common. They had near-death experiences when their kidneys failed. They underwent dialysis at different times in and outside the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), in Idi Araba.  But the good news is that they now have a chance to live healthy again. They had kidney transplants. The kidneys were donated to them by their cousins.

    They could not hide their joy at the success of the transplants that  gave them a new lease of life. They owe their lives to their dononors.

    Now that they are back on their feet, they have two wishes: Let the Federal Government make provision for affordable after-transplant drugs and that the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) should include kidney care; dialysis and transplants in its coverage.

    According to Azubuike, who managed to talk to The Nation, because he must not remove the mouth cover on him, “it was God alone who helped him to overcome the experience of having bad kidneys. I know the hospital has built our post transplant drugs for some months into the subsidised bills, but the thereafter is overwhelming. I know those drugs are really expensive. Government must do something for citizens with renal problems in this country, sincerely it should.”

    He continued: “For me to have waded through the weekly dialyses; found a kidney donor in the person of my cousin, a devout Christian and undergone the kidney transplant surgery successfully, is a huge miracle.”

    Pastor Clifford Umeh, who donated one of his kidneys said: “I donated my kidney to Azubuike knowing that I have two good kidneys. And I can live on one after donating one to him. I made to demonstrate through my act the Biblical principle of practical Christianity, which is love. There is nothing ritualistic or barbaric in having a kidney bank or even donating to a hapless end stage kidney patient. “

    The pastor appealed to the government to do more enlightenment on renal health in Nigeria, “This is because the rate at which the cases are on the increase is alarming. Youth are drinking all sorts and engaging in renal hazardous activities. I don’t know what led to my cousin coming down with end stage renal failure, but then things like that happen; it is good if massive enlightenment is done on what the disease is, causes and options in its care and management.”

    In the same vein, Mrs Abdullahi said it is destiny that brought her out of the ordeal. She said: “I started experiencing some difficulty in my health early February, last year. I went to Randle General Hospital and was referred to LUTH. The weekly dialyses were a drain financially; the government should do something urgently to address that. You see, if LUTH is on strike, I go to do the dialysis at a private facility, especially on the Ogba/Berger axis. A session there costs between N70,000 to N50,000. I do like twice or thrice in a week. But in LUTH it is between N25, 000 to N27,000; or N30, 000 maximum.”

    Mrs Abdullahi said: “I will enjoin the government to reach out quickly to citizens with kidney problems, in different parts of the country by formulating a policy that will both reduce the cost of dialyses, and drugs after the transplant is done. If it cannot totally give free immune suppressants for post transplants, it should at least subsidised. They should also be sold in hospital settings not in open pharmacies.  Dialysis should be totally free. Many are dying because they cannot afford to pay for the required sessions. Many are on waiting list at the LUTH dialysis centre, yet they don’t know where the money to pay will come from.

    “I am happy I pulled out of the surgery successfully. I now believe more in my country. LUTH doctors and nurses are fantastic. They took good care of me. This has proven that Medical tourism may be a needless venture by Nigerians because we have experts who are skillful here, with equipment and facility that are up to date. LUTH has subsidised its surgery for us and we are grateful. My message is that as many that want to travel out for kidney transplant should come and do it at LUTH. It is affordable than waiting for the money to travel abroad”

    The relative that donated his kidney was reluctant to recount his experiences or share them with The Nation. But other relations who are avid readers of this newspaper especially an elderly man, expressed their joy that Mrs Abdullah pulled through.

    The arrow head of the team that performed the feat, the second in the hospital, Consultant Urologist, Dr. Habeeb Tijani, said: “These feats performed at different times have indicated that indeed kidney transplants are now a routine procedure in Nigeria, especially at LUTH. This is a wake-up call on Nigerians seeking kidney transplants and are embarking on medical tourism should tune in to this new development. It will save them money involved in foreign exchange, stress of travelling; accommodation for the person that accompanied and other issues.”

    Dr. Tijani said: “It is true that the hospital built in a three-month supply for post renal drugs for these patients because we know that the first three months post transplant are crucial. The body needs those drugs, especially suppressants and antibiotics. This is to prevent complications and other issues such as rejection.

    “After the three months, the body would have accepted the new organ and the drugs would reduce. But then to be honest with you, post transplant drugs are too expensive. It is cheaper in places like India because the country does a huge load of transplants and the hospitals order the drugs in bulk and the cost is crashed for them. Unlike what obtains here in the country, whereby we order in-between based on availability of patients. If more Nigerians with renal problems that need transplants believe in the system and patronise places like LUTH, then the cost of the drugs may also come down. It is cheaper in India because of the volume of the drugs required.

    “Government can also include in NHIS, just as it can carry out sensitisation through its agencies like National Orientation (NOA) and Ministry of Information that renal transplant can be done now in Nigerian hospitals. Of course, we know that LUTH has joined the league of hospitals which carry out renal transplantation since. We are strengthening the hospital to be able to offer these services to Nigerians so that the reason for medical tourism outside Nigeria will now reduce.”

    The Nation gathered that there was a visiting team of foreign specialists to ensure effective transfer of technology and safety of patients, which was principally a supervisory role.

  • Stroke, a preventable disease

    Stroke, a preventable disease

    Stroke, in medical parlance, is an emergency but an early response or prompt treatment can minimize its adverse effects on the brain. Moderate physical exercises, Dr Olufemi Fasanmade suggests, are proactive measures against its occurrence. OYEYEMI GBENGA-MUSTAPHA met him. 

    Nigerians have been urged to engage in physical activities to prevent stroke. The advice was given by Dr Femi Fasanmade an Associate Professor and Consultant Physician/Endocrinologist, College of Medicine University of Lagos, (LUTH), Idi-Araba.

    Dr Fasanmade said stroke is a cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is a major cause of disability and premature death throughout the world. “The underlying pathology is atherosclerosis, which develops over many years and is usually advanced by the time symptoms occur, generally in middle age. Acute coronary events (heart attacks) and cerebrovascular events (strokes) frequently occur suddenly, and are often fatal before medical care can be given,” he said.

    According to him, physical activity improves heart function and lipid profile by lowering total cholesterol. It lowers blood pressure and resting heart rate.

    A source said adults who do not exercise on a regular basis have a 20 per cent higher risk of having a stroke than their more active peers, according to a study published in the latest editio of the journal, Stroke.

    This research backs up earlier findings, including those from a 2010 multi-country study that identified physical inactivity as the second leading risk factor for strokes. This current study, however, is the first to look at such a large multiracial group of both men and women.

    Dr Fasanmade, a founding member of Stroke Action and Awareness Campaign, said what informed a stroke action programme in Nigeria is due to the burden of cardiovascular diseases.

    He said: “If you enter a typical emergency set up or room in a place like LUTH or Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) or Federal Medical Centre (FMC) or even any General Hospital, you will find out that every single day, one patient would be brought in unconscious and many are unconscious to either a stroke or due to a heart attack. In Nigeria, stroke is much more common than heart attacks. We have started to see these cases. If you also go to the wards, in a typical adult medical ward, you will always find at any particular time, month or period, at least one person who is being managed or on admission for  stroke. So, strokes are quite common and can be very devastating.”

    Dr Fasanmade added: “Risk factor modification, such as physical exercise can reduce clinical events and premature death in people with established cardiovascular disease as well as in those who are at high cardiovascular risk due to one or more risk factors.”

    The Consultant Endocrinologist said stroke is very common because of the things that lead to it saying: “25 to 30 percent adult Nigerians are hypertensive and majority of uncontrolled or untreated hypertension lead to stroke. So if we can prevent hypertension you prevent stroke. Unfortunately, hypertension don’t show signs and people may not know until they develop complications. It is either they collapse, have heart failures or kidney failure or even develop a stroke but there is none that is more dramatic than a stroke. In most instances, a lot of sudden deaths are due to stroke when people suddenly collapse and die. This tells us how stroke can be devastating.

    “A stroke is a medical emergency. Strokes happen when blood flow to your brain stops. Within minutes, brain cells begin to die. There are two kinds of stroke. The more common kind, called ischemic stroke, is caused by a blood clot that blocks or plugs a blood vessel in the brain. The other kind, called hemorrhagic stroke, is caused by a blood vessel that breaks and bleeds into the brain. “Mini-strokes” or transient ischemic attacks (TIAs), occur when the blood supply to the brain is briefly interrupted.”

    He said symptoms of stroke are- sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg (especially on one side of the body); sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding speech; sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes; sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination and sudden severe headache with no known cause. “If you have any of these symptoms, you must get to a hospital quickly to begin treatment. Acute stroke therapies try to stop a stroke while it is happening by quickly dissolving the blood clot or by stopping the bleeding. Post-stroke rehabilitation helps individuals overcome disabilities that result from stroke damage. Drug therapy with blood thinners is the most common

  • ‘Build healthcare capacity, infrastructure’

    There has been a call for Nigeria to build capacity and infrastructure in the health sector.

    According to the Chief Medical Director, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Prof. Akin Osibogun, this will ensure qualitative healthcare service delivery.

    Addressing the Advance Writing and Reporting Skills (AWARES) Class 14, Pan Atlantic University (PAU) students, who came on a facility tour of the hospital, Osibogun said the country was saved from an embarrassment when the Ebola virus broke out because of the LUTH/Chevron Genome/ Molecular Biology Research Laboratory, where the blood sample of the late Liberian-American, Mr Patrick Sawyer, who imported the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) into Nigeria, was analysed.

    He said any form of delay in diagnosing the patient would have caused “a catastrophic situation”.

    He said the laboratory helped to save the situation.

    The community health expert, however, said healthcare cannot be totally free in Nigeria as somebody must pay for it, adding that people should separate politics from health financing.

    “If we are going to have the kind of healthcare that we have been longing for, then we have to finance it effectively,” he noted.

    Osibogun said the average per capita on health in Nigeria is less than N10,000 per person while that of United States is N1.3million. “In Europe is N800,000,” he noted.

    The government, he said, frowned at mass burial for victims of plane crash, especially the ill-fated Dana plane crash, which prompted the establishment of the facility in the hospital.

    He said the benefit of the DNA laboratory is huge as paternity and forensic issues can be carried out.

    A professor of haematology at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Sulaimon Akanmu said the centre has been involved in three researches, adding that this will help reposition the country in science.

    “This laboratory can help doctors know if a female child will have cancer at adulthood or whether a baby still in the womb will have sickle cell disease (SCD),” he said.

    Akanmu said Nigeria need to contribute to knowledge by engaging research and development. “Many opportunities have been lost because there was no conducive environment for research,” he said.

  • LUTH lab gets ISO accreditation

    Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) is the first government institution to be issued an ISO 15189 as an accredited laboratory through its Public-Private Partnership (PPP) programme.

    This, its Chief Medical Director (CMD), Prof Akin Osibogun, said is a major milestone in the history of PPP in the Health sector in Nigeria.

    He spoke while receiving certificate of international accreditation from the Chairman of PathCare Laboratories, Prof Prof Ibironke Akinsete.

    He said the hospital was at the forefront of the containment of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) as it was the first Virology Laboratory in Nigeria to provide testing for the deadly virus.

    Professor Osibogun said PPP, which was approved by the former Minister of Health, Prof Babatunde Oshitimehin in 2009, contributed towards achieving the accreditation.

    Prof Akinsete said: “Starting was not easy because many people did not buy into the PPP project, but the board approved it because they were convinced that it was better we had laboratory services in-house to improve patient management as wrong diagnosis and failed treatment was a major issue.”

    She said treating people with wrong diagnosis often result in poor health, adding: “We now have direct access to highly specialised testing which has enabled us provide special treatment and improved 24 hour care. Our partnership with PathCare has yielded positive result. This gives credence to the fact that the way forward for health sector in Nigeria is PPP.”

    Prof Akinsete congratulated LUTH for being the first teaching hospital running a successful ISO accredited laboratory.

    She said it was very challenging starting the laboratories in the hospital.

    “Presently, our laboratories in Lagos and Abuja are ISO accredited and LUTH laboratory has now become the newest with this international status.

  • ‘Why babies must breastfeed’

    Head of Nutrition, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr Chris Isokpunwu has described good nutrition as a pre-requisite for national development.

    Dr  Isokpunwu, who spoke at a joint programme on Breastfeeding by Nestle and National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), said poor breastfeeding could impact negatively on  a child’s health.

    According to him, good nutrition for a baby starts from when the woman gets pregnant with the mother getting the required nutrients.

    “After delivery, babies should be fed with colostrum before 30 minutes. This is good for child and mother. The baby gets needed protection by taking that first breast milk. It also allows the mother to lactate better,” he said.

    Dr Isokpunwu described breast milk as the most nutritionally sound food for babies.

    “It is easy to digest and help strengthen baby’s natural defence as well as prevent disease. It also ensures development and growth,” he said.

    Isokpunwu said the Federal Government introduced breast milk strategy marketing and regulation to promote only breast feeding. It also instituted baby friendly initiative and training of health workers.

    “There was breastfeeding campaign and infant and young child feeding programme,” he said.

    Professor of Neonatology, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Chinyere Ezeaka described breast feeding as an ancient art and modern miracle. “It is the key to maternal, newborn and child health”, she noted.

    She said women should breastfeed babies with two-third of their areola touching the babies’ mouths.

    The neonatologist said babies must be given colostrum, even if their mothers delivered them through caesarian section (CS). “Colostrum is dense in antibodies and most appropriate for them,” she said.

    Mrs Ezeaka said malnutrition is a major societal and economic problem. She said breastfeeding is a human rights issue because no child should be denied breast milk.

    Breastfeeding, she said, is linked to all the eight millennium development goals (MDGs).

    This, she said, was why the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended exclusive breastfeeding for babies for the first six months of life and additional complementary feeding for two years and above.

    Ezeaka said 80 per cent of brain development in babies is achieved in their first two years.

  • NMA protests resident doctors’ sack

    NMA protests resident doctors’ sack

    •Open further talks with union, Ajimobi tells Fed Govt

    Nigerian doctors, under the aegis of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), protested yesterday at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Federal Government’s sack of over 16,000 resident doctors.

    NMA is also asking the government to lift the ban on doctors’ residency training.

    It noted that the sack would retard medical practice because “it is the building-block of medicine”.

    Lagos State NMA chairman Dr Tope Ojo said the solution was for the government to dialogue with the doctors and an “unconditional” reverse the sack order.

    The union leader said the government should recall the sacked doctors to hasten discussions on an amicable solution.

    Ojo said this would save the Health sector from imminent collapse.

    He added: “Doctors should not be threatened with sack.”

    According to him, sacking the resident doctors means shutting down the hospitals because “an injury to one is an injury to all”.

    Ojo said doctors were not asking for a pay rise but for a Universal Health Coverage under the government’s National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

    The union leader explained that only 30 per cent of Nigerians were covered under the programme, whereas “it should be 100 per cent”.

    Lagos State NMA Second Vice Chairman, Dr Olusegun Akinwotu, noted that banning doctors’ residency training to prevent crisis in the sector was unreasonable.

    He said: “Resident doctors constitute over 50 per cent of the medical workforce in teaching hospitals across the country. Sacking them is like killing the patients, because they help consultants during surgery and teach house officers.”

    The NMA presented a letter on their demands to LUTH’s Chief Medical Director (CMD), Prof Akin Osibogun, who was represented by the hospital’s Chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee (CMAC), Prof Chris Bode, to the Minister of Health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu.

    Prof Osibogun said their message would be delivered to the minister.

    He said medicine is a noble profession, adding that protesting doctors should go about their activities peacefully.

    Prof Osibogun said: “The situation currently on ground calls for sober reflection and moderation. I am sure intervention will be carried out by the good people of Nigeria.

    “We are doctors. It is expected of us to be of high moral conduct. We must conduct ourselves with decorum. Let us not constitute a danger. I pray that peace will soon return to our body and country soon.”

    Also, the Oyo State branch of the association protested yesterday what it called the “illegal” sack of its members.

    Over 1,000 resident doctors, led by their chairman, Dr Muideen Olatunji, marched on the streets of Ibadan for the protest, after their congress.

    Addressing reporters after submitting a letter through Governor Abiola Ajimobi to President Goodluck Jonathan, Olatunji said no doctor should accept or collect any sack letter.

    He added: “No doctor in this state should sign any register opened by the government or its agents. For the avoidance of doubt, no doctor, no matter how hungry, should pick up any low appointment with the government hospitals, as directed by the circular.”

    Olatunji said any of its members who flouts the directive is on his own.

    According to him, the NMA directed doctors to work for the containment of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak.

    He urged government at all levels to ensure that people under surveillance for Ebola virus infection do not travel outside their domain.

    Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi has urged the Federal Government to enter into further negotiations with the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) to resolve the impasse on the sack of over 16,000 resident doctors.

    The governor spoke yesterday in Ibadan, the state capital, when he addressed members of the state chapter of the NMA, led by its Chairman, Dr. Muideen Olatunji.

    The members visited the governor during their peaceful protest against Federal Government’s sack of resident doctors.

    Ajimobi noted that rather than resort to punitive measure, the Federal Government should have continued dialoguing with the doctors to reach a compromise on their requests.

    The governor said the sack of the resident doctors would worsen the deplorable state of health care delivery in the land and lead to an increase in the death rate.

    Olatunji said members of the association condemned the Federal Government’s action.

    The union leader presented a letter of protest to Ajimobi to be delivered to the Federal Government.

    The NMA chairman said government at all levels should improve health facilities and improve doctors’ welfare.

    He added that no doctor in the state should accept or collect any sack letter or sign any register opened by the government.

     

  • LUTH performs first open-heart surgery

    LUTH performs first open-heart surgery

    •15-year-old undergoes kidney transplant

    The Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) has successfully performed its first open-heart surgery,  its Chief Medical Director (CMD), Prof. Akin Osibogun, said yesterday.

    Osibogun, said the feat was novel in the hospital’s history, adding: “Three open-heart surgeries were performed on an 18-month-old baby girl, a seven-year-old boy and a 23-year-old undergraduate.”

    He told reporters that the patients were in stable condition, adding that they would leave for home today.

    Osibogun expressed satisfaction that LUTH has joined University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Nsukka in Enugu State and University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State in carrying out such surgery.

    Doctors at the hospital, he said, were joined by experts from Hopitaux Universitaires de Geneve, Switzerland, Greece and Istanbul, Turkey to achieve the feat. There was a visiting team of specialists from the Mansoura Hospital, Egypt, he added.

    He said that it would take a while before LUTH doctors were left to perform the surgery alone, adding that it is part of technology transfer for doctors to be supervised by those teaching them.

    Osibogun said some doctors were sent to Mansura Hospital and India for training, adding that they have now improved on their expertise to deliver qualitative care.

    He said cardiac and renal surgeries were the major reasons why people seek treatment abroad, adding that this is followed by knee/ joint replacement surgery.

    The CMD said a kidney transplant was also carried out on a 15-year-old who came down with nephritic syndrome, adding that the patient had been on dialysis for over six years before the transplantation.

    He said the reason some organs fail after transplantation is because they may not properly match or the patients’ refusal to take their drugs as advised by doctors.

  • Patients in Lagos agonise over strike

    Patients seeking treatment at various public hospitals in Lagos State were turned down yesterday as members of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) started their indefinite strike.

    At the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igboi and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Ebute Metta, among others, doctors did not attend to patients.

    The out-patient units and clinics were shut in the hospitals while in-patients were not unable to see doctors.

    This also made other health workers in the hospitals, such as pharmacists, nurses and medical laboratory scientists to play truancy as went on sorts of holiday.

    Many patients who came to hospitals on referrals and new patients went away disappointed as security officials re-echo “there is strike” to their ears.

    They were told to seek medical services in private hospitals.

    Some patients were also discharged from the hospitals.

    The Accident and Emergency (A and E) units were shut at LUTH but that of LASUTH was opened only that new patients were not admitted.

    The Paediatric Ward, Out-Patient Department (OPD) and Oncology Unit were deserted by doctors. Some nurses were seen at the Labour Ward attending to some expectants mothers.

    Doctors at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, also complied joined the strike as they shunned their duty posts. The A and E, orthopaedic ward and other Wards were shut at new patients while nurses remained with patients in critical condition.

    The story is the same at FMC, Ebute Metta, only that other health workers were on ground but patients were asking for the doctors.

    A few nurses were seen attending to some in-patients but new patients were asked to seek treatment elsewhere.

    A patient, Mrs Lola Adeyemi said she was surprised that doctors can embark on another strike, especially when the Association Resident Doctors (ARD) just ended their strike.

    She said strike will increase the pain of hapless patients who are paying through the nose in public hospitals that ought to offer hope to indigent patients.

    Another patient, Mr Suraj AbdulWaheed said patients are the people who usually bear the brunt of the strike, adding: “The government and doctors don’t have the interest of people at heart, nemesis will catch up with them if they do not change. The hardship in Nigeria is too much”.

    NMA chairman, Lagos State, Dr Francis Faduyile said doctors have complied with the striking order by the NMA.

    He said until the Federal Government resolved the problem the situation will remain the same.

    Faduyile said doctors will remain resolute until their demands are addressed by the government, adding: “Nobody can tell when the strike would be called off”.

    He said quick resolution of the indefinite strike can be achieve if the government address doctors grievances.

     

  • Patients suffer as strike paralyses LUTH

    Patients suffer as strike paralyses LUTH

    Patients were at the receiving end at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) yesterday as the indefinite strike declared by the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) entered day three.

    The ever-busy Accident and Emergency (A and E) Ward, Paediatric Ward and obstetrics and gynaecology unit, among others, were unusually quiet.

    There was total black-out in the hospital as electricity supply was unavailable all through the day.

    Some consultants and nurses were, however, carrying out skeletal services.

    The hospital, The Nation gathered, had discharged some patients, the day before, to seek treatment elsewhere, while new patients were turned back right from the gate.

    The strike, which coincided with the three-day warning strike earlier declared by the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), paralysed all activities in the hospital.

    Many relatives were seen taking their wards to prevent their ailments from worsening, while some ailing children were discharged at the Paediatrics Ward, while those left were not attended to.

    A woman, who pleaded anonymity, said: “The nurses used to bathe our children but since the strike began, they would just give us warm water to bathe them. The only thing they do is to clean babies in the incubators. They even refuse to give my son any injection.”

    Chairman, ARD LUTH, Dr Olubunmi Omojowolo, said there was no going back on the strike until the hospital’s management accedes to doctors’ demands.

    He identified high hospital fees as the main reason doctors were striking, adding that a lot of patients are complaining about the cost of treatment.

    “In some sub-specialties, such as obstetrics and gynaecology (O and G) and dentistry, the fees are beyond the reach of an average Nigerian. Before, silting and laceration cost about N8,000 but today it has gone up to N50,000. So ARD has issues with fees of major surgeries but our focus now is on minor surgeries,” he said.

    No appreciable progress has been made by the hospital to resolve the problems. The hospital should resolve the issue of excessive taxation of doctors to allow equity and fairness as doctors were heavily taxed.

    “LUTH was implementing its own tax regimen before the Federal Government introduced hers. We were paying more under LUTH, so where was the excess going? When the government puts us on its Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) programme, we paid less before it stopped it,” Omojowolo said.