May 21, (THEWILL) – A consultant with the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital (ESUTH), has advised the state government to focus more on healthcare development, stressing that improving the citizens’ healthcare can only be achieved through training and retraining of health practitioners, among others.
Consultant Ophthalmologist of ESUTH, Christian Chukwuemeka Eze, who gave the advice on Friday, at the ongoing free medical outreach in collaboration with Rotary International in Enugu, noted that the ability of the government to reposition matters regarding healthcare facilities would drive growth across the sector within the state.
Also, advising the government in adopting measures that will advance the state healthcare facilities, such that it would benefit its citizens, Eze pointed out, to achieve healthy growth, the government should raise funding for the healthcare system, noting that the government should ensure the funds are efficiently used for specific tasks.
According to the renowned surgeon, the authority should be able to develop more grassroots medical facilities, such that citizens can easily access primary and secondary facilities, adding that doctors should be sent for subfield training and development by the state government.
“Somebody staying at Nkanu, Ezeagu or Nsukka must not necessarily come to ESUTH in Parklane for him or her to access quality healthcare.”
Speaking further, Eze appealed that the people should be responsive in attaining the right medications, and adequate counsel, as well as see the need of going to the hospital for thorough examinations.
Explaining further on the time frame of 10 days, “Enugu population is more than four million and there is no way, within this short time frame, that we will be able to cover everyone.
Narrating his experience, Eze said, “In my department of ophthalmology, we had a lot of pressure from the patients. Sometimes we book surgeries because of the inability to pay, they keep defaulting on the surgery they need, which led to blindness in some of them. But with these free Surgical services, which the hospital management graciously agreed to collaborate with the Rotary Club, it will create an opportunity for our people who can’t afford it to get adequate healthcare activities that they need. Presently what is being offered is free cataract surgery, glaucoma surgery, among others involving the eye. It’s been running and the ophthalmologist from India has been doing a wonderful job, in collaboration with the local ophthalmologists.”
Explaining the collaboration with India, he said, “It’s all about offering universal health coverage to our people, because any system that involves out-of-pocket payment, does not really work. This is because, if there is universal health coverage, when one is sick, the insurance will cover some part of the financial cost, especially in my field, when someone is the breadwinner for instance, then something happens to his eye and he couldn’t see, let’s say he has cataract and he couldn’t see and he is a daily income earner and because he could not see well, then he wouldn’t be able to go out and earn money to take care of that surgery. At that point, it becomes a circle, where he cannot go out and make money. He is getting blind from his eye problem and he keeps going into poverty. But if there is an insurance policy, in which the person will be doing some contribution to a kind of universal health coverage things will be easier. From there, if he needs cataract surgery, he will just provide the insurance to the healthcare provider and get the cataract surgery done. With that, he will start seeing again, after which he returns to society, to contribute his quota to the development of the state he is living in. The solution is universal healthcare coverage.”
According to him, “Sometimes the patients in Nigeria, don’t reach the demand of the doctors or the requirements from the doctors.”
The Enugu state government has provided an enabling environment for the hospital to thrive, generally, the government has equipped the hospital to a reasonable level. This present government bought some modern medical equipment while the hospital management itself is the host and they provided adequate manpower that can collaborate with the visiting Indians. They also provided the theatre, the nurses, and many other things.”
He said that is a big collaboration because without the management being involved, the outreach won’t be a success, the Indians and the Rotary Club won’t be able to operate without an enabling environment.
On the level of achievements so far, “I can say that the pressure is quite tremendous and our people are really coming, especially for the eye care section, surgeries are still ongoing and will still continue to the end of the programme”, he concluded.
Janefrances Ebere Chibuzor is a Tourism Writer at THEWILL
