ABEOKUTA– President Mohammadu Buhari Monday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital commissioned an
International Conference Centre, Telemedicine hall and six other projects at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC).
The president also lamented the
unfriendly attitude of health workers to patients, adding that the attitude have been pushing Nigerians to seek medical care outside the country.
Represented by the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, the president emphasised the need for continuous training and retraining of health workers to deliver quality health care services to Nigerians.
“We still get all too often for comfort, disconcerting reports of not friendly attitudes of staff to patients, reports of unhygienic and house keeping standards that leaves something to be desired even in the presence of sophisticated equipment and well qualified doctors.
“Such simple failings like this, are more frequently responsible for the loss of confidence of the end users in our health system than even the lack of equipment.
“They are the triggers for the distrust that will lead people to go on medical tourism.
“We have a lot of work to do in that area and I want to believe that the managers of our hospitals after such laudable, fantastic infrastructure investment we now begin to pay attention, not only to improving staff harmony and welfare, but to retraining health care givers for even better professionalism that deliver service in a productive and courteous atmosphere based on the lessons we learnt from our traditional African hospitality”.
Also speaking, the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan noted that, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic had given the Federal government the opportunity to provide additional resources, particularly for infrastructure that will enable Nigeria address outbreak of pandemics in the future.
Lawan who was also represented by the Chairman of Senate Committee on Health, Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe, disclosed that, the Federal government is building 10 bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU) centres, 30 bed isolation centres and well equipped, functional molecular laboratories in every of the 52 Federal Medical Centres (FMCs) in Nigeria.
He assured that, the bill on the establishment of Ogun State university of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Abeokuta would be passed by the National Assembly before the end of April.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila in his speech said, the projects were evidences of the fulfilment of promises made by the government and signified the continued progress of the FMC.
“It is the cardinal responsibility to ensure the welfare and the wellbeing of the people. Providing access to quality health care services that our people can afford is one way we serve their best interest”, Gbajabiamila.
Speaking on the projects, the Medical Director of FMC, Prof. Adewale Musa-Olomu said the centre is the first in the country to have a telemedicine hall.
He said the centre has successfully performed more than 300 brain tumour surgeries since the establishment of the neurosurgical and cardiothoratic units.
Musa-Olomu expressed the optimism that, the hospital would be upgraded to a teaching hospital with the establishment of the university of Medicine and Medical Sciences.
Governor Dapo Abiodun in his address, assured the centre of the continued support of his administration.
Other dignitaries at the event includes, former Ogun State governor, Chief Olusegun Osoba, the Alake and paramount ruler of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo III, Minister of State for Health, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, amongst others.
