GENERAL HOSPITAL, OFFA HOLDS STAKEHOLDERS MEETING ON THE STATE OF SERVICE PROVISION IN THE HOSPITAL.

As part of the community engagement efforts of the Hospital Management Committee of General hospital,Offa,carefully chosen community leaders, opinion/religious leaders as well as security agencies were gathered at the facility to educate the public on the true state of service provision in the hospital on Friday, 16th of December, 2022.

Present at the event were the Executive Secretary, Kwara State Hospital Management Board (HMB), Dr. AbdulMalik AbdulRaheem; Dr. Femi Joseph, the Director of Medical Services of HMB, as well as other directors from the HMB. Also present at the event were the TIC Chairman of Offa Local Government, Hon. Jare Olatundun; representative of Offa Descendants Union (ODU) National President, Dr. Funsho Oladipo; Provost of College of Health Technology, Dr. AbdulRauf Aliu; representative of the Dean of Student Affairs (DSA) of the Federal Polytechnic, Offa, Dr. AbdulWaheed Balogun; representative of the National President of Offa Students Union; Heads of all Security services in Offa, as well as the Chairman of Offa Patient's Welfare Committee, Retired Major. Adedeji.

At event, the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of General hospital, Offa, Dr. O.M Abdulsalam welcomed everyone to the important occasion meant to state the true position of the hospital concerning an unfounded submission by a blogger on social media that stated in his submission that "General hospital,Offa, a beautiful place to die ". The CMD submitted in his welcome address that it's rather unfortunate that the blogger never deemed it fit to do investigative journalism before horribly going into press. He submitted that the overall mortality for the year 2022 running for the hospital stands at 0.2% (70 out of 59,112 patients seen so far this year); 3 stillbirths recorded out of a total live birth of 1060 deliveries conducted in the hospital so far this year; and maternal deaths recorded put at 5 out of a total of 1048 pregnant mothers who delivered in the hospital. One wonders why a hospital with Statistics that is way below the national figure for the indicators mentioned above should be tagged "a beautiful place to die". He enjoined the general public to disregard the alarmist, whose motive for the unjustified and unfounded submission is best known to him. He commended the resolute vigor of the doctor on duty as well as other staff of the hospital on the fateful day quoted by the blogger, 9th of December, 2022, for trying to safe the live of the said pregnant woman whose relatives were not forthcoming to get units of blood requested for transfusion. He stressed that it took the effort of the doctor on duty to get the only unit of blood the deceased got before her demise, and that the blood gotten from the laboratory was meant for another patient entirely.The CMD called for calm, understanding and support from all stakeholders towards getting things right in order to serve the people better. He reiterated the fact that the challenges of inadequate healthcare manpower amongst other sundry issues affecting service provision in the hospital is not limited to the facility, and that adequate representation has been made to the necessary quarters for quick resolution. While thanking everyone present for honoring their invitation, he assured the general public to continue to have confidence in the ability of the facility to deliver on its core mandate of providing quality health care services. He prayed for the family of the deceased, and assured them that the deceased will not die in vain as all issues identified leading to her death are being evaluated and will be resolved to prevent future occurrence.

In his remark, the Executive Secretary of HMB, Dr. AbdulMalik AbdulRaheem commiserated with the family of the deceased pregnant woman reported in the social media. He further stated that no death of any citizen of the state will be handled with levity, and all hands will be on deck to prevent future occurrence of the events leading to the death of the woman. He said that it's rather unfortunate that the event occurred just when the State was about setting machinery in place to understudy the blood transfusion services in Lagos state with the sole aim of replicating the same in each senatorial district of the state. He reassured the gathering that once this laudable project of blood transfusion service comes on board soon, the one for Kwara South will be sited in Offa. He admitted the fact that there is a gap in healthcare manpower in the state generally, and that the challenge is not limited to General hospital, Offa. He submitted that His Excellency, The Executive Governor of Kwara State, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRasak has graciously granted approval for the immediate employment of 40 doctors, 60 nurses and 25 pharmacists as a matter of urgency. He pleaded with the community to reach out to their sons and daughters to equally come home and take up employment with the state as the vacancy for doctors has not been filled up to about 2 months of placing the advert. The Executive Secretary of HMB rolled out plans aimed at ensuring patients satisfaction and preventing exposing issues that would have been otherwise resolved at the management level into the full glare of the whole world. One of those plans include rolling out dedicated phone lines to be contacted for complaints 24/7 as well as suggestion boxes at strategic locations in the hospital. He enjoined the staff of the hospital to show more dedication and commitment to duty, and pleaded for understanding while addressing the issue of acute shortage of staff in the facility. He thanked the community for their unrivaled community development spirit and support at all times towards making General hospital, Offa standout among its peers in the state. One of such giant strides is the edifice built by Offa Metropolitan Club in the hospital waiting for commissioning by His Excellency, The Executive Governor of Kwara State, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRasak on the 24th of December, 2022. He pleaded with all stakeholders present to continue to have confidence in the staff of the hospital and give them necessary support so as to ensure be able to achieve all deliverables.

In her own remark, Alhaja. Kemi Olatinwo-Bello, representing the National President of Offa Descendants Union, thanked the management of General hospital, Offa for the good work that they are doing. She pleaded with them not to allow distraction from the social media to affect service provision in the hospital. She enjoined all leaders present to go back home and encourage talk to their wards not to demarket the only secondary health institution we have in the community. While admitting the fact that many things needs to be fixed at the facility to ensure good patient experience and satisfaction, she pleaded with all stakeholders to embrace the channel of communication already rolled out by the hospital management board to get issues resolved instead of taking up issues on social media. She also called for more commitment and dedication to duty on the part of the staff of the hospital, as well as addressing the already bruised staff-patient relationship to prevent future occurrences. She thanked the Executive Secretary of HMB in advance for making Offa a priority whenever the time comes for distributing the about to be engaged health professionals. She cited reasons while the hospital should be accorded a lot of attention because of its strategic location as the only reference hospital serving Kwara South as well as the neighboring communities of Osun state.

The TIC Chairman of Offa Local Government area, Hon. Jare Olatundun, while making his remark, also toe the line of other speakers by appealing for calm, understanding and support for the hospital. He regretted the unfortunate death of the deceased which can not be entirely blamed on the hospital management going by the submission of the CMD. He talked sternly about the alarmist of a journalist who had not done due diligence about the case before horribly going into the press and projecting the image of the community negatively. He appealed to all stakeholders present at the event to talk to all concerned that it's our collective responsibility to ensure quality service delivery to our people in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility, and that any act of recklessness will not henceforth be tolerated. He equally appreciates the staff of the hospital and appeals to them to be more professional in carrying out their duty at all times.

In their separate remarks, representatives of the Grand Chief Imam of Offa, as well as the Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) prayed for guidance and protection of the staff as well as the community and the state at large. They appealed for calm, understanding and support, and admonished the government to do more in putting things in place to ensure all challenges identified are properly and promptly addressed. They prayed for the administration of His Excellency, The Executive Governor of Kwara State, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRasak to continue to steer the ship of the state to greater heights.