Katsina doctors abandon patients during holidays
Scores of patients who thronged the General Hospital, Katsina during the Christmas and New Year break for medical attention went home disappointed as medical doctors who were supposed to attend to them stayed off duty.
They left their jobs for other health workers including nurses and corps members to handle.
Mostly hit were patients rushed to the hospital’s Accident/Emergency and outpatient wards.
Investigation showed that many of the doctors only showed up briefly during the holidays and thereafter left messages behind that they should be contacted in case of any emergency.
Our correspondent witnessed two instances where victims of motorcycle accidents were rushed to the hospital’s Accident and Emergency ward, few minutes after 3pm on Monday.
The health worker on duty could not get across to the doctor who was supposed to attend to the victims despite several phone calls to him.
The health personnel (names withheld) eventually prescribed anti-tetanus injection for the patient but the injection had to be bought at a chemist outside the hospital as the health worker noted that there was no doctor on the ground to certify it.
When taken up on why he prescribed the injection without examining the boy, the health personnel said his action was better than not attending to the boy at all.
In the same vein, another 10-year-old boy, rushed to the hospital by his parents for serious digestion problem, was still seen lying on a mat unattended to as of the time of filing this report.
Further investigation showed that the same scenario was recorded on Sunday night when an accident victim, who rushed to the hospital, could not be attended to while a consultant, who was supposed to be contacted over the issue, reportedly left an instruction behind that he should not be disturbed at night.
It was further learnt that patients attending the hospital at weekends and during public holidays are doing so at their own risks, as in most cases, only medical doctors who are corps members are the ones left behind to do the job, along with other health workers.
Sources also cited a case of a female corps member rushed to the hospital last month (December 2017).
The female corps member, who was said to be diabetic, eventually died allegedly owing to the poor attitude of the doctors who were supposed to treat her.
Many patients have now turned to the Federal Medical Centre, Katsina because of the development.
A source said, “It is a pity that Governor Aminu Masari is not being given the true picture of what goes on here at the General Hospital despite billions of naira being sunk here by his government.”
“The way things are going on here, doctors here will collapse the state health programme. They need close monitoring instead of depending on paper records always presented to the government.”
The Commissioner for Health in the state, Hajiya Mariyatu Bala Usman, could not be reached for comments as of the time of filing this report.
