It was on a cloudy Sunday morning I rushed to the hospital for medical attention and unfortunately, there was power outage leaving the entire hospital in darkness with a little array of light through the window blinds.
I sat in pains, fatigued and my aching body dripping with sweat for I was hot despite the cold weather. Alas! The nurse on duty called out to the security man who doubles as the man in charge of the power generating set. After ten minutes there was no sound that the generating set was put on. At this point, I couldn’t bear the heat and I decided to step out to get some fresh air. Maryann, the nurse, then flared upon seeing the discomforting state I was in, calling out to the security man and asking why it took him forever to put on the generator.
I was bewildered when the young man stepped out of his abode by the entrance gate majestically without any sense of guilt, then went to the generating set. Of course, he took yet another ten minutes before the hospital eventually had light.
In this scenario, I was pained and asked myself if this is the attitude that would be displayed during a critical emergency when a patient is between life and death. He was neither in a hurry nor was he remorseful. Rather he went to the powerhouse grumbling and making some funny statements which I pretended not to have heard.
After receiving attention and placed on three days of injection, I left a bit relieved. As I arrived on the third day, I presented my card to the receptionist who collected and, in a few minutes, returned it and said I would be attended to shortly. After 20 minutes, I beckoned on her and she assured me that in another five minutes I would be called on. While I sat, I noticed the nurses parading around without attending to anyone but flaunting their assets like bees hovering around.
Finally, I lost my patience. I went straight to the lady and I exclaimed how much longer would I have to wait to be administered my last injection? Without remorse she responded sarcastically, “are you not seeing the doctor?” I sighed, nodded my head in pity. Then I wondered if she didn’t understand what was written in my file. Eventually, she brought a file to show that she had presented it to the doctor only for me to see another patient’s name. In disdain, I brought out my hospital card and asked her if the name was the same on the file. She walked away without an apology for the mix-up. In the long run, I was given the injection and it was a wrap for me.
The crust of this article is not to reiterate the failed state of our health sector, which has been reported repeatedly but to review the depth of negligence, a cankerworm which has penetrated the attitudes of our health practitioners.
No doubt that the health sector ranks amongst those given the least attention resulting in an increase in medical tourism. While the sector is experiencing the least governmental attention, the practitioners themselves are a course of worry as human lives are valueless to them.
Two things I drew from my recent experience: the security man was ignorant of the importance of his role in the hospital’s value chain which contributes to quality service. For the receptionist, her lack of attention to detail is a subtle reminder that people’s health conditions have been jeopardised and made worse owing to wrong medication as a result of file mix up. This is what negligence can cause, a grave danger to the health of Nigerians.
Every hospital claims to provide quality health services to her patients. This assertion can only come alive if the personnel take on themselves the mission and vision statements in their practice. People (job seekers) end up making promises of upholding the values of the organisation but the story changes once they have the job. Instead of the promised diligence to work, negligence becomes the order of the day as they sing the usual chorus, “no be my papa work.”
Negligence by health workers has become an epidemic that kills even faster than any common ailment in our society. Hardly is there a Nigerian family that has not lost a loved one due to negligence. Of course, no one has been sanctioned professionally; hence, poor health workers place less value on the lives of their patients.
Half the time, negligence is blamed on doctors because it is their show. The act is practiced like a norm by most workers in the hospitals – the gateman, cleaners, nurses, pharmacists, laboratory attendants, and others. They need to be told that the reason why the word “staff” has no plural is because all employees of an organisation, irrespective of their positions, are working for a common goal to fulfil the vision and mission statements.
It is time to put things in perspective by having the concerned government authorities and stakeholders wade into the matter, to cure our hospital personnel of nonchalance in the discharge of their duties both in public and private hospitals.
Any employee who puts is negligent should be shown the door if that would help to reduce the careless deaths of our people. I have come to know that people are hired for their skills but fired for their attitude.
With Muhammadu Buhari’s charge during the inauguration of the National Economic Council (NEC), listing the health sector as one of the areas of priorities, it suffices to say that this next level agenda will act in revamping the health sector.
A state of emergency in the sector will not be a bad idea if indeed we value the lives of Nigerians who cannot seek medical attention outside the country.
Kenneth Adejumoh
Adejumoh is a Public Relations Practitioner. He enjoys contributing to national issues through his articles. He is the Corporate Communications Manager at Nosak Group
