Patients Call For Better Emergency Service At Ifako-Ijaye General Hospital

Some patients have protested about the emergency service at Ifako-Ijaye General Hospital, Lagos and called on the Lagos State Government to improve the quality of healthcare delivery.

The patients spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos. 

According to them, the Lagos State public health institution appears to lack the essential facilities needed to aid emergency services.

A patient, Tina Njoku (not real name), who narrated her experience at the hospital to NAN said it was terrible.

Njoku said she was rushed to the hospital from a pharmacy where she had gone to purchase some medication.

“I went in as an emergency at noon. We were told to buy medical consumables such as gloves, syringes and cotton wool before they attended to me.

“All these while, I was placed on a chair and was given five intravenous fluids sitting on the chair for hours.

“It was very uncomfortable. I noticed that I wasn’t the only patient treated in such an unbecoming manner,” she said. 

Similarly, Morenikeji Adeife, a relative of a patient at the hospital, appealed to the hospital to increase the number of beds in its emergency room.

"There was no bed space when her brother was rushed to the hospital and they had to plead for him to be attended to, hoping that a patient would eventually be moved to the ward”, she stated.

Also, Gboyega Adebayo, a businessman, said that medical consumables are essential and indispensable components in the provision of healthcare to patients. 

As a well-travelled man, he wondered why patients would be the one providing same before receiving treatment.

Adebayo noted that patients buying medical consumables was not peculiar to Ifako-Ijaiye General Hospital, adding that the same was obtainable in most public health facilities in the state. 

He called for adequate funding of the health sector, saying it would assist to provide affordable healthcare and subsidise cost for vulnerable Nigerians.

According to NAN, a medical doctor at Ifako-Ijaiye General Hospital who pleaded anonymity said that that the management of the hospital values the life of the people 

“When there is no bed, we stabilise patients brought in to emergency; we resuscitate with fluids, pain killers and antibiotics.

“Even if a patient requires oxygen, we give but once the patient is stabilised, we refer to another centre,” the doctor told NAN.

Reacting to the complaint, Dr. Bamidele Mustapha, Medical Director, General Hospital, Ifako-Ijaiye, said that life is precious and measures to preserve it should be taken seriously.

Mustapha noted that there are eight beds in the emergency rooms for patients, saying that the hospital bought couches to augment the bed space issue. 

“Rather than send a patient away from the hospital, we see what we can do as first aid before referring the patient. 

“We have about eight beds there, and when it is filled up, the instruction is that we refer to another hospital. 

“But I have said, No! Whatever the situation, stabilise them first. 

“In the course of stabilisation, we may not have the luxury of bed, we stabilise in any condition deem fit for now.

“We don’t just send patients away. Some of the patients come in very bad conditions and there’s no bed, the best we can do is to stabilise them.

“If in the process  there’s now space, we move them there,” he said. 

He emphasised that lack of simple intervention that could save lives might result in deaths. 

Mustapha, who said that the government was working on expanding the scope of operation, however, noted that the process is gradual.