By David Dari
The authorities of Federal Medical Centre, Keffi has reiterated their commitment towards ensuring that all its medical doctors and supporting staff live up to their official responsibilities in providing quality and efficient medical care to their patients in line with the best standard practices obtained all over.
The Medical Director of the Centre Dr. Yahaya Baba Adamu made the pledge in an interactive session with newsmen about the activities of the centre saying that the management under his watch has taken concrete steps towards ensuring that doctors particularly are always in their duty post at the time they are supposed to be so that the patients would be able to access the care they needed as and at when due.
“We are highly committed towards ensuring that all our doctor and supporting medical staff are staying put on their duty post and not engaging in any sharp practices to the detriment of our much cherished patients.
“Anything contrary would be met with the appropriate sanctions while those that dedicated themselves would be adequately rewarded because we would be carrying both carrot and stick in our approach or operations, and apply them as the case may be” he explained.
The Medical Director who used the occasion to debunked the insinuations or allegations making the rounds particularly in the social media that the doctors in the Centre do prefer their private practices elsewhere to the detriment of their official responsibilities in the hospital.
He said the management is not resting on their oars towards ensuring that all its medical doctors live up to their responsibilities to justify their pay.
Adamu stated that even though he cannot exonerate all of them in the blame of negligence as alleged in some quarters due to the nature of human being, but all he know is that a greater majority of them are doing well unless those found wanting would be sanctioned to serve as deterrent to others.
On the issue of its proposed kidney centre or the provision of a dialysis machine for the treatment of kidney patients, the Medical Director stated that the building has already reached it s completion stage.
He said he is working hard towards ensuring that the centre gets the machine and all the necessary accessories associated with it through a budgetary provision and all other normal channels in the Federal Ministry of Health.
Dr. Adamu further disclosed that he has given a matching order to the contractor handling the repairs of the centre’s X-ray machine which is in a state of malfunction to ensure that it is properly repaired within the shortest possible time and put back into use because of its high significance in the provision of Medical Services to the patients.
Speaking about the state of hospital’s Laboratory services, the medical Director expressed the delight that almost all the medical examinations (test) required were done within and even the few ones remaining efforts were being made to ensure that they were done within the hospital to ensure quality assurance and appropriate treatment to the patients.
Commenting about the issue of drug and other medical accessories or equipment supplies, Dr. Adamu stated that there was a remarkable improvement in that section adding that even the cases of out of stock syndromes has been drastically reduced and patients are been encouraged to always sources for drugs they were proscribed in the hospital pharmacy for the sake of quality assurance except those that were either not available or who desired to go and get it outside.
Reacting to the allegations that the centre is engaged in the illegal recruitment of staff, the Medical Director described such as totally untrue saying that even though need to engage the services of some nurses due to their short in supplies in the hospital they have to follow the due process through making sure that all what is done is in accordance with the laid down procedures.
Also speaking about the delays in the payment of November salaries to staff, Dr. Adamu attributed the system failure in both the budgeting procedure and the IPPS which is not only peculiar to the FMC Keffi alone because it also affect many other Health Institutions across the country and assured that both the ministries of Finance and Health are working hard to rectify the situation which he believed would not take time to do so in view of the commitments deployed by all parties including him in that regards.
The Medical Director then explained that the issues of payment of deposits on admission of patients as well as the issues of provision of meals, were meant to provide easy access to the patients to prompt medical care while the meals were also meant to provide the appropriate meals to the patients in accordance with their medical conditions as proscribed by the hospitals Dieticians and Doctors to enable them have a speedy recovery from their ailments as done almost everywhere.
Dr. Adamu who regretted that the two policies have to be withdrawn due to the misconception about them which might be associated with their financial conditions, however, expressed the satisfaction that despite that some patients are beginning to understand and even key into it. He therefore appealed to the people to always avoid making and spreading unfounded rumours or allegations assuring that the doors of the centre are always open for anyone who wants to verify anything about the centre and its activities
