M. D.: Save Image of Federal Medical Centre, Asaba
By Jude l Ojiugo-Onochie
Hospitals are meant to cater for the health needs of patients, to ensure they are fit medically. That is to say nurses, Doctors, as well as other professionals in the health institutions, have to try their best to ensure that they give adequate attention to their patients.
Any Doctor worth his/her onions should be guided by the fact that are to carry diagnosis on patients who are with them and proffer prescription to them to save their lives.
It is a statement of fact, when patients visit hospitals, the first thing they do is to obtain patients card, which provides column for their names, age, house/office address and other information needed.
There is no doubt that money is required to do all these as stated, even if they patients who on admission for intensive medical care or Outside Patients Department (OPD).
It will sound very unprofessional, if issue of money is placed ahead of the medical attention that Doctors are supposed to give to their patients, this is not fair at all.
Feelers from certain quarters, revealed that Federal Medical Centre (FMC)Asaba, is becoming something else where professionalism has been thrown to the mud.
How on earth does one explains the rationale behind Medical Doctors in the Hospital, insist that cash money must be paid before attention is given to patients.
The present quagmire the Country is facing, is not even taken into consideration by the Medical Doctors.
The Central Bank currency swap, has made it difficult for patients to have enough cash in their possession, by through money transfer.
Insisting on cash payment and notallowing money transfer process to be applied, is most inhuman and wicked.
Terrible, another serious issue of concern at the Hospital, is that the Pharmacy Department is said not to have enough drugs to dispense to the patients, which makes patients to go outside the Hospital and procure drugs.
Most unprofessional, it’s alleged that Doctors have resorted to diverting patients from the Hospital to their own private Hospitals.
A patients who experienced such order, alleged that, some will come out and tell patients to wait for them outside the gate, and divert such patients to their own private Hospitals, after refusing to come out and attend to them while on duty at FMC, Asaba. These are weighty allegations the management of the Hospital must address to save image of the Healt Centre.
