2016 Budget: Buhari to spend more on State House Clinic than on all federal teaching hospitals

By Nicholas Ibekwe

The Nigerian government is proposing to spend more on capital projects at the State House Medical Centre this year than it would provide for the 16 teaching hospitals belonging to it.

President Buhari

If the proposed budget is approved as presented to federal lawmakers, the State House Clinic will get N787million more in capital allocation than all the 16 teaching hospitals combined.

The State House Medical Centre is a facility that provides healthcare for President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, their families and other employees of the Presidency, all possibly less than a thousand.

Federal teaching hospitals cater for the heath needs of millions of Nigerians, train medical doctors and other health professionals for the nation while also serving as top medical research centres.

A breakdown of the 2016 Appropriation Bill shows that a total of N3.87billion has been allocated for capital projects at the State House Clinic.

In contrast, the country’s 16 federal government-owned teaching hospitals individually only got a fraction of the allocation made for the presidential clinic.

According to the proposed budget, N212,539,245 has been allocated for capital projects at the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital in Lagos, one of the country’s most populous states, while the capital allocation for the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Kaduna, is N230,904,795.

Similarly, the capital allocation for the University College Hospital, Ibadan, is N230,904,795; University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu (N218,335,908); University of Benin Teaching Hospital (N212,886,502); Obafemi Awolowo Teaching Hospital, Ile Ife (N162,622,221); University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (N166,802,164); University of Jos Teaching Hospital (N228,717,880); and University of Port Harcourt (N169,498,392).

The capital allocation for other hospitals are: University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (N201,082,446); University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (N215,151,873); Usman Dan Fodio University Teaching hospital, Sokoto (N279,000,000); Aminu Kano University Teaching Hospital (N210,380,376); Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi (N166,188,931); University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (N198,715,702); and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (N229,005,992).

Health industry experts consider the annual huge capital allocation to the State House Medical Centre as “outrageous and baffling”.

“It is unbelievable to see that Buhari is continuing in the tradition of pampering the State House Clinic every year with outrageous capital allocations while teaching hospitals that cater for several millions of people are allowed to rot,” an official at the National Hospital, Abuja, told PREMIUM TIMES. He requested not to be named for fear he might be victimised by the administration.

By virtue of the huge allocation to the State House Medical Centre President Buhari, Vice President Osinbajo, their families and their staff at Aso Rock are assured of state-of-the-art medical care.

However, millions of Nigerians, many of them poor voters, who bought into the president’s message of change, are to continue to make do with decrepit facilities in under-funded teaching hospitals and other government-owned health facilities across the country.

Checks by PREMIUM TIMES indicates that this year’s huge budgetary allocation for the State House Medical Centre is a continuation of what appears a tradition of over-equipping the clinic at the detriment of other health facilities in the country.

A 2009 report by the rested NEXT newspaper revealed that the State House clinic had 17 ambulances, the highest by any hospital in the country at the time.

According to the report, in 2008, 10 new state-of-the-art ambulances were brought from North Carolina in the United States, parked inside the presidential villa and left unused.

At the time the ambulances were left to rot away in Aso Rock, the National Hospital, Abuja, believed to be one of the topmost hospitals in the country, had only nine ambulances while the General Hospital in Nyanya, a decaying facility on the outskirts of Abuja, that served more than 300,000 people, had just a jalopy 504 Station Wagon (CT 89-A10) as its only ambulance.

Last November, a report by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) revealed that there were only two functional radiotherapy machines, an essential equipment for the treatment of cancer, in the country, one of which belonged to a private hospital.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), over 100,000 Nigerians are diagnosed with cancer annually, and about 80,000 die from the disease yearly.

The decrepit state of health facilities in the country, apart from the consequent losses of lives, has also caused huge economic loss to the country. Nigerians who can afford it spend billions of naira annually in the United States, Europe, India and other places in search of better healthcare.

Adewunmi Alayaki, Secretary General of the Nigerian Medical Association, said government should consider redistributing the allocation so that health facilities used by ordinary Nigerians can get better financial allocation.

“The lopsidedness in the distribution of allocations is keyed towards the State House health needs and the rest of the country are now sharing less funds than what is allocated to one health facility,” Mr. Alayaki told PREMIUM TIMES via telephone.

“I think government should look into that and correct it. Ordinary Nigerians do not have access to that facility (State House Medical Centre) so they should redistribute and invest more in areas where ordinary Nigerians have access to.”

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, could not be reached to comment for this story. He is said to be on his way to France with President Buhari.

The Minister of State in the ministry, Zainab Ahmed, could also not be reached. Multiple calls to her telephone failed to connect.

2016 Budget: Buhari to spend more on State House Clinic than on all federal teaching hospitals

Edo hospital better than many in Europe - Oshiomhole

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State says the state’s 200-bed Central Hospital is more beautiful and will be better equipped than many hospitals in Europe and Asia.

Governor Oshiomhole

Speaking during an inspection of the hospital yesterday, the Governor assured that the 200-bed Central Hospital which has attained 98% completion will be adequately maintained to ensure its durability and effective service delivery to the people.

According to Oshiomhole, “when I said at the beginning that our intention is to build what I called a five-star hospital, most people tried to imagine what that meant, but I am sure just looking at the building, I don’t know of any hotel in Nigeria, in terms of aesthetics, that has a better appeal than this. And this is the sort of thing you find in Europe, and some other advanced economies. If you are in the 21st Century, begin to think as if you are in the 22nd Century because the world has changed and it will keep changing. The pace of change will keep accelerating.”

“The whole idea is that when a typical Edo person comes from a village like mine, if he gets in here and realizes that even the environment psychologically impacts on him and he begins to appreciate that he is important, he is in the hands of professional healthcare providers, that way, that forgotten rural man, for once, will have access to modern facilities. You don’t need to board an airline to London, to India, to Europe to be told how hospitals look there. I am sure that those of you who may have for one reason or another travelled, there are many hospitals in Europe and in India that are not as beautiful as this.”

Oshiomhole continued: “And so, I believe that a hundred years from now, this hospital will not look outdated. You will see that as you look at the internal finishing, we took into account the conventional challenges you have with public building, problem of painting and repainting, and with the facials that you have, you will never need to do repainting, all you need is proper cleaning at regular intervals.

The Governor said “the only thing we must now do is to address the critical issue of the human factor. Once the hospital is open, we must re-engage the doctors on the rule of engagement. We won’t invest in this kind of facility, and a doctor comes in to clock in one hour, and goes back to do his private practice, and then collects a cheque for one month at the end of the day.

“I think we provide a hospital that can provide for everyone, both the rich and the poor. There won’t be a difference in treatment for the poor and the rich.”

Edo hospital better than many in Europe - Oshiomhole

Bola Tinubu Centre workers protest unpaid salaries

Health workers at the Bola Tinubu Health and Diagnostic Centre at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, have protested the non-payment of their salary for five months.

Bola Tinubu

The workers staged a peaceful protest at the head office of Deux Nigeria Limited in Ikoyi, Lagos on Wednesday.

According to the workers, who called on the state government to intervene in the matter, Deux Nigeria Limited is the consulting company handling the maintenance and payment of staff salaries at the diagnostic centre in LASUTH, owned in a public- private partnership with the Lagos State Government.

A worker at the Radiology department, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told our correspondent that all efforts to dialogue with managers of the BT centre had yielded no result.

He said, “We gave them a 21-day strike notice, they didn’t respond. We went on strike for three days, they did not call us back. As it is now, we don’t even know if we will be paid or not.”

When our correspondent contacted the officials of Deux Project Nigeria Ltd, the Head of Training, Dr. Jonathan Odia, said they were in a crucial meeting, requesting that our reporter call back.

Subsequent efforts made to reach him on the telephone proved abortive

Bola Tinubu Centre workers protest unpaid salaries

Decomposing corpse chases patients out of wards

Foul odour emanating from a decomposing corpse at the Accident and Emergency Clinic, Orile-Agege General Hospital, Lagos, on Monday, prevented medical workers from attending to patients at the clinic and wards attached to it.

Rather, patients were treated outside a large shed where new patients queued to collect cards before they were eventually taken to different wards for further attention.

When our correspondent visited the hospital on Monday morning, the doors of the clinic, which is located close to the Pharmacy Unit, had been locked and a male ward attendant in purple uniform was seen mopping the lobby with disinfectant. The nurses evicted from their station were also seen shouting at people not to open the door.

A patient who was relocated to the Surgery Ward said it took hospital officials more than two hours to evacuate the corpse.

“I came in here around 5am and there was no power supply at the time. The generator was also not working at the time, but there was no odour. I was already on a drip inside the ward when this foul odour hit the ward. In a matter of minutes, we were all asked to leave the ward. My drip was detached and condemned by the nurses.

“We were all taken outside and we sat on the benches by the Pharmacy Unit. It took them more than two hours to decide what to do with the corpse. I was later dispatched to the Surgery Ward, while others were taken to the Casualty Ward,” he said.

When contacted, the Medical Director, Dr. Afusat Tijani, refused to talk to our correspondent. “I am not allowed to talk to the press,” she simply said.

However, a source who did not want to be quoted because of civil service rule said the corpse was ‘a coroner’s case.’ The source denied that the corpse had been left unattended for three days.

“What happened was that the State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit was supposed to have evacuated the corpse, but they said they did not have fuel to get here. The corpse was a coroner case and there was nothing we could have done. SEHMU only came to pick the corpse this morning.

“Patients are being attended to at the moment. The affected section was just the clinic and the patients were taken to another place pending the time disinfection would be completed. We usually wait for 24 hours after disinfecting an area before patients would be allowed to go back there,” said the source.

Decomposing corpse chases patients out of wards

The Death Zone Called University Of Uyo Teaching Hospital, By Inibehe Effiong

Since Monday the 20th of April, 2015 there has been no electricity supply at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. The avoidable blackout has completely hindered all medical services which are electricity dependent. With this unfortunate state of affairs, the lives and safety of patients seeking serious and urgent medical attention has been put in jeopardy.

While this rot goes on unabated, the Management of the hospital which is unperturbed from all indications is claiming that they are spending too much money on the provision of fuel to service the generators that provides electricity to the hospital since public supply of electricity is nothing to write home about.

A relative of mine that needed to undergo urgent scanning at the hospital has been ‘booked’ for 5th May, 2015 when her turn is expected to come. She has been told that there is nothing that can be done about her case because the radiology department of the hospital can only perform 18 scans per day.

Apart from the perennial problem of electricity at the hospital, the entire atmosphere there is anarchic, inhumane and degrading. From extremely poor patient service, personnel inadequacy, overcrowding, unavailability of drugs (in fact most patients depend largely on private pharmaceutical outlets for drugs), antiquated facilities, offensive odours, to infrastructural decay, the facility passes for a death zone.

Having been to the hospital on a number of occasions, I can say without mincing words that there is an urgent needs for the government to intervene. This is one teaching hospital where patients are treated with utter disdain by uncaring nurses and other non medical staff who appear to be incurably offended at the sight of patients.

This uncaring attitude might not be unconnected with the poor staff welfare policy of the hospital. The ’13th month’ salary bonus that comes from the federal government are not paid staffers. What they get at the end of every year is expired uncle bens rice, which is always rejected by the medical and non medical staff who knows what the consequences are.

A situation where emergency cases at the hospital are treated like other cases is completely unacceptable. Many have narrated how personnel (including doctors and nurses) in the hospital watched carelessly as their relatives suffered and died without assistance or care.

The situation is so precarious that instead of undergoing the very demoralising and excruciating procedures at the hospital, many people have resorted to self – medication. The last time I visited the hospital for medical care, I had to wait for more than 3 hours before being attended to by a doctor. There after, I was unduly delayed at the laboratory department before being cleared for clinical tests.

The hospital is not immmuned from the cancer of corruption which has ravaged most public institutions and sectors in our country. In fact, the smell of bribery, nepotism and favouritism is pungent at the hospital. To be attended to timeously, one must be ready to give kickbacks or be assisted by a known third party (personnel) at the hospital. I witnessed this the last time I went there.

Findings shows that the budget for UUTH is not being used for the hospital but to service the pockets of the powers that be. For the past 3 years, the UUTH Management keeps collecting millions for buildings that ought to have been completed two years ago. This is so because funds budgeted for this purpose are allegedly being diverted.

The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital, Prof. Etete J. Peters who has been at the helm of affairs since 2009 when he was appointed appears so comfortable with the status quo. A friend with deep investigative connections in the medical sector alleged among others that Prof. Peters conducts job interviews for would be employees of the hospital in hotels. Whether true or not, the indubitable fact is that there is an evident failure of leadership at the hospital.

The University of Uyo Teaching Hospital is the only tertiary health facility in Akwa Ibom State. Despite being a federal government owned facility, over 80% of Nigerians that depend on the facility for medical care are residents of Akwa Ibom State. Therefore, the Akwa Ibom State Government should be interested in the present uninspiring and scandalous state of hospital.

The Minister of Health should as a matter of urgency hold an independent investigation into the state of facilities at the hospital. Nigerians deserve to know whether the yearly budgetary provisions for the management and maintenance of the hospital has been put to justifiable use or whether the monies appropriated for the hospital, including internally generated revenue, has been misappropriated or embezzled. There is an urgent need for questioning and accountability.

The Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy under our Constitution enjoins the Nigerian government to provide adequate medical care for all Nigerians. Specifically, Section 17 (3) (d) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended)  provides that the State shall direct its policy towards ensuring that- “there are adequate medical and health facilities for all persons”.

A nation that does not pay serious attention to the health, safety and security of her citizens cannot prosper. Our mortality rate and life span will not improve when vital health facilities like the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital are in critical and debasing state. We cannot continue like this as a country.

The time to act is now!

Inibehe Effiong is the Convener, Coalition of Human Rights Defenders (COHRD)

The Death Zone Called University Of Uyo Teaching Hospital, By Inibehe Effiong

Striking Ebola Burial Workers Dump Bodies In Front Of Hospital in Sierra Leone

Burial workers for an ebola clinic in Kenema Hospital, Sierra Leone, have dumped the corpses of Ebola victims at the hospital entrance to display their anger at unpaid ‘hazard pay’ allowances.

Burial Workers At King Tom Cemetery, Sierra Leone
Francisco Leong/AFP/Getty Images

The workers, who are on strike, are said to have left two bodies at the hospital entrance and one by the hospital manager’s office.

Kenema is a major city in Sierra Leone and has recorded about ten percent of confirmed Ebola cases in the country.

Two weeks ago a number of Ebola health workers went on strike in the nearby city of Bo to protest unpaid allowances strike to protest unpaid allowances.

Despite signs of progress in reducing the rate of new Ebola infections in Liberia and Guinea, Sierra Leone continues to experience a surge in new infections with about 500 new cases in the last week alone.

The head of The UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response, Anthony Banbury, has warned that health authorities are losing control of the crisis in certain rural areas which have little to no intervention resources.

“It’s clear where there are escalating cases rapidly accelerating the spread of the disease, and where we don’t have the response capability on the ground, and that’s definitely the case in some places, we’re not going make it.” Banbury said.

The 2014 Ebola crisis has killed over 5000 people mostly in West Africa, with over 15000 cases recorded to date.

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Striking Ebola Burial Workers Dump Bodies In Front Of Hospital in Sierra Leone