Sunday 18092016

SUNDAY VANGUARD, SEPTEMBER 18, 2016, PAGE 15
investigation
Our story, by resident doctors, patients
*Resident doctors... Too many anomalies in NHA
Continued from page 14
have standard diagnostic
equipment to work with. When
we have emergency cases at
night, you may find a doctor
using rechargeable light or
light from cell phone to find
intravenous line, because the
generator has packed up and
there is no electricity from
public supply. In a place like
the National Hospital, you
would expect that machines for
CT scan, ECG and MRI are
readily available at the
emergency units. You expect
that the simulator machines
would be functional, but in this
place, you discover that doctors
use manual marking of
patients with oncology cases
instead of a simulator to
examine the patients. First, you
will not get the accurate
reading that will help you
determine the actual dosage to
apply. We rack our brains to
determine dosage to
administer to the patient and
determine where to direct the
radiation treatment. The MRI
machine that we use in this
hospital is a toy. The capacity
of the Teslar is about 0.3 when
what is required is a machine with
a Teslar capacity of 1.5. The world
standard is 3.0.We cannot rely on
the readings from the MRI
machine which is problem-solving
equipment”
Further investigation reveals
that the NHA records frequent
breakdown of equipment and
other facilities due to lack of
repair and maintenance. The
source alleged that some
equipment procured in 2014 by
the hospital remained in the
crates and yet to be installed
A source in the radiology
department of the hospital said:
“Since 1999, there has been a
steady decline in our equipment
and other facilities.
“As we speak now, the Linear
Accelerator machine that is used
for radiation in cancer treatment
is broken down. It does so
frequently. When it does, patients
are referred to Zaria or Sokoto at
extra cost.
“The new Lineal Accelerator
machine procured in 2014 is still
intact in the crate and we fear that
it may have gone bad under the condition it
is kept. We fear for the condition of the
machine. Even some of the doctors who
have been trained on how to use the
equipment are those being forced to leave
the services of the hospital.
“The MRI machine, which plays a key
role in diagnosis in modern treatment of
disease, cannot give doctors accurate
reading and report became the capacity of
the Teslar is too low. The modern MRI
machines have moved from 1.0 to 1.5, and
the latest is 3.0. “Some private individuals
have 1.5but what we have here is 0.3. If
private individuals have MRI machines that
can give five times the readings that we get
here, then you can agree with me that what
we have here is a toy”.
As of the time of filing this report, the
radiation machine at the NHA had been
down for six weeks. Patients with oncology
challenges are not getting treatment.
Unfortunately, harder times await cancer
patients accessing care at the hospital or
any other centre in the country.
Information shows that the radiation
treatment machines in teaching hospitals in
Enugu, Benin, Lagos, Ibadan, Sokoto and
Abuja are also down. Sadly, these hospitals
are not in a hurry to fix the machines as the
various managements are complaining of
money for buy forex to bring a foreign
expert to fix them. Consequently, oncology
patients today in the country may have to
wait for a long time for their treatment to
continue. According to oncology experts, it
is better for patients needing this treatment
not to get radiation treatment than to get
half dose or incomplete one. “If somebody
is getting radiation treatment and breaks,
the cells will now build immunity and
bounce back.”
Patients testimonies
Meanwhile, testimonies abound about the
anomalies at NHA.Some patients and
health workers, who spoke to our
correspondent, poured out their frustrations.
From their revelations, it was gathered that,
every week, the hospital receives about 25
new cancer patients and, on any given day, it
records about 45 old and new patients on
schedule for radiotherapy. One of the
patients said: “When the radiation machine
breaks down, our treatment plan is altered.
Some of the patients come from other parts
of the country. Sometimes, the patients
wait for so long on the queue before they are
given treatment. In some cases, interruption
in power supply could keep patients for
hours.” A cancer patient, who spoke under
anonymity and was first diagnosed at the
hospital but had her treatment completed in
India, told Sunday Vanguard that many
patients have died due to the waiting
period. I would have died if I had
waited.”
Another patient, currently accessing
services there, confided in Sunday
Vanguard but refused to give his name
for fear of victimisation. According to him,
most of the diagnostic machines in the
NHA are 35 years behind technology.
“Imagine the features, functionality and
utility of the cell phones that we use today
and the types that came when GSM was
first introduced to the country in 2001, that
is where we are today in terms of medical
equipment and technology. While the
world has moved to G4 and G6, we are
importing equipment that have the
features and functionality of first GSM
generation. Their parts are no longer
available and those trained in repairing
them have moved up to the new
technology. When there is a breakdown,
we find it difficult to get the spare parts
and engineers who can fix them”, he said.
“Patients are given under dosage which
does not deal with the disease and death
results from this callous action.” One of
the resident doctors explained their
frustrations: “We are not happy or proud of
the situation but what do we do? Doctors
who are trained to save lives just sit
helpless and watch patients died from
preventable deaths. We cannot keep silent
and allow this to continue. We are losing
out to private hospitals. People are
making mockery of the National Hospital
A cancer patient, who
spoke under anonymity
and was first diagnosed at
the hospital but had her
treatment completed in
India, told Sunday
Vanguard that many
patients have died due to
the waiting period. I would
have died if I had waited
Abuja, that it is a place where people
who want to die go to.”
Another doctor at the foremost
tertiary hospital also told our
correspondent: “Some of us consult in
a room with no comfortable chairs or
air conditioner. We are expected to rack
our brains and make diagnosis, even
when we see a large number of
patients within a short period of time.”
He further blamed the situation on
underfunding and endemic corruption
in the system. His words: “Patients are
compelled to go to private hospitals for
diagnosis. The problems at the health
facility has brought so much pressure
on consultants, resident doctors,
nurses and non-medical personnel
who are totally dissatisfied and
sometimes disinterested in the welfare
of their patients. There was an
instance where a former
Nigerian High Commissioner
to the UK was brought to A &
E and we were looking for
Glucometer to check his blood/
sugar level.
“The former envoy’s driver
had to rush to his house in
Maitama to get his own at
home. How can you manage
such a diabetic crisis without
hourly RBS, let alone tests like
SEUCR?”
At the NHA Surgical Out
Patient Department, SOPD, a
patient narrated his own
experience. He was booked
for surgery for 10am and was
duly counseled not to eat or
drink. He appeared for the
surgery at 8.30am and was
taken to the theatre around
9.00am. Thereafter, he was
abandoned. He narrated his
story to Sunday Vanguard: “It
was when my wife became
very mad with them at about
3:30pm that they told her that
the doctors who were
supposed to attend to me were
attending a seminar”.
A patient was subjected to
such long period hunger and
lack of care, imagine that level
of callousness by health
providers. Even diagnostic
tests in the NHA like FBC,
PVC, Chem, MP and PCV,
which cost approximately
N1,500 to N2,500, have gone
up by 100percent. It is
challenging for patients to
dole out as much as N50,000
toN80,000 for a single CT
scan, MRI, Bone scan etc and
the result cannot give proper
diagnosis. Whereas we
should be talking of a
machine for PET SCAN which
enables doctors to have full
knowledge of the status and
location of the disease in the
body and determine the
quantity of medication that is
required for the patient.
“We operate in an
environment where doctors
are denied the opportunity to
attend international
conferences and present
papers and interact with their
peers from other countries.
On the contrary, we spend our
resources to sponsor ourselves
to these events where when
you present internationally
accepted papers, the profile of
the hospital and the country is
lifted.
For instance, if we attend
World Cancer Conference and
present a quality and
internationally accepted
paper, the profile of the
hospital is lifted, the image of
the country is also lifted and
these enable the country to get
research grants”, one of the
NHA resident doctors added.
Sunday Vanguard gathered
from the Minister of Health
that the National Hospital,
Abuja is one of the referral
hospitals in the country which
have been earmarked by the
Buhari administration for
urgent refurbishment, so that
it could once again become
efficient in service delivery.
A healthy nation is a wealthy
nation and the health of a
nation is reflected in the wellbeing
of its citizens
C
M
Y
K