Today, the CMD of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Professor Chris Bode wrote an editorial in the Guardian newspaper in defence of the hospital concerning the 'picture of a nurse working in a dark room with a flashlight strapped to her head which is currently trending on social media'. According to him, It was not taken in any ward of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba. He went on to question the rationale behind the circulation of the picture. In his own words, 'One wonders, therefore, what was the motive behind such a puerile mischief. Was this elaborate charade simply to disparage a national institution where many toil daily to give succour to the helpless? Or to embarrass some specific personalities?'.
I see this editorial as an attempted defence and opportunity taken to enhance the public image of the hospital while deviating minds away from its failures. The fact is that if anyone has been to LUTH and experienced the poor health care delivery, you would agree with me on this.
Just last week, Friday 8 june 2016, patients who needed to do an abdominal scan were told not to eat before taking the scan but they had to wait for hours due to lack of power in the lab. Eventually, some of the patients who could not wait for power had to eat and forfeit taking the test.
How will sick people be told to wait for hours without eating in the name of a laboratory test that would eventually not be carried out?. What if one of the patients had collapsed and died. I'm sure the cause of death would have been attributed to the health conditions of such patient without stating how the hospital contributed to it. This is just one of the many instances of poor health service delivered to Nigerians who cannot afford to pay the exorbitant expenses charged by private hospitals.
Though the CMD might have rightly denied the picture was taken in the hospital but how do the staff in those units that don't receive uninterrupted power supply work?. This picture might not have been taken in any of the wards or units in the hospital but it still depicts what happens in the hospital. Leaders of public sector should stop giving senseless excuses to explain their failures and start seeking solutions to problems. I'm sure the person who circulated the picture on social media did so to create an awareness of the poor health care system in Nigeria and aire the views of so many people who have been victims of the crippled public health sector.