URE ed specialist hospital cal operation
attendants in all. Unfortunately we only have two trained apprentices as mortuary attendants in the hospital now, others are casual workers and we cannot ask them to stay overnight and work for us. We need competent hands here and that is one of the problems we are facing. People think since this is a state government hospital everything here should be free. The hospital mortuary has three cooling units,and out of these only one is not functioning. In the whole of Kebbi State it is only in this hospital that you can find cooling units.”
Commenting on the dilapidated structure and facilities at the hospital he said “About a week ago the state government sent a team of engineers from the state ministry of works to come and inspect and advice on how to renovate and expand the hospital. Some of its structures can no longer meet the needs and demands of today and they need to be replaced. We have written to the state government on this and they have sent their engineers here and we went round with them, put heads together and we came up with a gradual plan so that the hospital can be renovated without disrupting its activities. Anybody who is 60 years in this town knows only Sir Yahaya specialist hospital. Many of our officials are indigenes of Kebbi State and people from the rural areas easily understand instructions from them. It gives specialist care that people cannot get from other hospitals at a cheaper rate. C S is free of charge here until recently when we started charging N5,000 because the stocks that are supposed to be given to us to cover for that policy was not forth coming, so we decided to charge just N5,000. Many people who registered their wives in other hospitals always run here when it is time for them to deliver, and that is why we always have bed space deficiency here. If we don’t do anything to back up the policy we would have failure. Once government tells us this is its objective we try to see that it succeeds. We are civil servants and we work for the people with input from the government.”
He observed that the hospital regime is 5700 patients in a month. “Beside the issue of manpower shortage in the hospital, there is the additional issue of indiscipline among some of our staff. Since 2006 the hospital orderly are not employed. From retirement and death alone I have lost 52 staff and 10 years after they have not been replaced. Casual workers are given only N7,000 per month to keep the hospital clean. I cannot afford to take 12 of them in a big hospital of 250 beds capacity. Another challenge is that some of the patients instead of using the toilets prefers to just go somewhere beside it to defecate or urinate. Our nurses would have to educate some of the patients from the village on how to use the toilets. Unfortunately, only one person takes care of a ward of 30 persons and she would as well be shifting from cleaning the toilet to mopping the floors for a salary of N7,000. Government has to do more in employing the necessary personnel.It is not only the doctors and nurses that are important in the hospital, the orderlies are equally important. Government is aware of the challenges we are facing here. The only people who are not aware are those making allegations about the hospital. Maybe the government has its own reasons for not employing at the hospital from 2006 to date, but they have assured me things will change so we are waiting to see it.”