We are in Lassa Fever endemic area —DASH CMD

Dr Ahmed Ashuku is the Chief Medical Director of Dalhatu Afraf Specialist Hospital, Lafia. An indigene of Nasarawa State, he did his housemanship at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Kaduna. After finishing the postgraduate programme and qualified as a consultant surgeon, he was employed by Bayero University Kano to the Department of Surgery. A consultant at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, he started working in Dalhatu Afraf Specialist Hospital in 2010. In this interview with GODWIN AGWAM, he bares his mind on his career and policies of the state government in ameliorating the plight of the masses through free medical services. Excerpts:

Dalhatu Afraf Specialist Hospital is a cynosure of all eyes, especially in Nasarawa State. How tedious has this job been since you took over?

Well, as you said, it is the only state-owned tertiary hospital in the state and due to the increase in the number of people coming to reside in Lafia, the challenges are enormous. We have so many patients trooping into this hospital, on a daily basis. There are days we record up to 500 patients coming for different services in the hospital.

How are you coping with patients’ relatives overcrowding the hospital?

That is one major challenge that we have been facing and we are still facing. We notice that if a patient comes, maybe a quarter or half of the village may come with him. Unfortunately, if they come, they don’t add value to the patient. They also don’t add any value to the hospital; rather, they make the hospital dirty, overcrowded. In fact, it has health consequence for them and their families. It is a major challenge; we have been talking about this. We have spoken to the media, both print, radio and television. We have put signboards around the hospital, indicating visiting time and the rest. But the situation has not really improved. In fact, there was a time we had to seek the assistance of the Emir of Lafia to help us see how we can control the crowd. He had to send for some palace guards who came in and assisted us for some time. We also engaged the services of some artistes who acted films that we usually play to patients in our outpatients while they are waiting to see doctors. So, they will know the dos and don’t of the hospital and anytime a patient is admitted, they will know the dos and don’t of the hospital. Despite all these, the situation is still not very encouraging.

But we are not relenting, hopefully, after some time, we will achieve our goals. It is quite unfortunate that even the visiting time that we specified is not being obeyed by patients’ relations. That sometimes hampers our activities. Instead of us to do what we are supposed to do; we have too many patients’ relatives to deal with. Unfortunately, if you say, bring money for this, nobody will volunteer; if you say we need blood, everybody will disappear. But if it is patient’s food brought by somebody, before the patients realise it, the relations around must have eaten the food.

There are rumours that this hospital is careless about patients and lacks a lot of equipment. How would you react to this?

Well, it is unfortunate that sometimes some people will go out of their way to say negative things about this hospital. Some of us have worked in other hospitals and we know the experiences there. Most people that have had something to do with this hospital in terms of accreditation have had cause to laud this hospital. But, those that don’t know will say whatever they like. Basic services are available in this hospital for free. At times, we go out of our ways to do a lot of things for patients that don’t have money in this hospital. We give patients money, we carry out operations free. In fact, the state government asked us not to collect money from patients that are involved in road accident unless they have the money to pay but if they don’t, the state takes care of their treatment. There are some categories of patients that the state said we should do some things for free. For instance, we don’t collect money to open the folder for all pregnant women, if for any reason, they have a caesarean section, they only pay for the materials used, not for the services. Also, patients that are above 75 years and those under five years enjoy the free services too.

What services do this hospital offer?

In this hospital, we have specialists in various fields. We have over 20 consultants in different fields. We have a functional dialysis unit, a functional intensive care unit, a functional pathological unit, virtually most of the important areas or unit that are available in most hospitals. We have radiologists.

What are the common ailments prevalent in Nasarawa State and, by extension, the North?

What we see in other places is what we see in this hospital. As you are aware, we are more or less in a Lassa fever endemic area and virtually every year, we have patients coming in with Lassa fever. We are the only hospital that can treat the patients with Lassa fever in the state. The only alternative is Federal Medical Centre, Keffi. That treatment is 100 percent supported by the state. When we have patients suspected of Lassa fever, the state provides services for the treatment. The ministry sends somebody with the blood sample for test, the state provides the kits, tablets and all other facilities that the patient would need. We don’t have isolation units for now, but we have isolation rooms. When patients have such cases, we isolate them and take good care of them. And I think we have recorded some successes. The patient that comes in early will survive but for those that come in late, they are the ones we sometimes lose. We have had pregnant women that came in and survived.

What would you say are your achievements since you came on board?

It is very difficult to say, because I am not working alone, so it is difficult for you to achieve anything on your own. Rather, what are our achievements? Although, I am the head and essentially I coordinate most of the activities in this hospital, but I know that at the time I came here, we took some steps forward. When I came to this hospital, we had less than five consultants, but now we have 23 consultants. When I came here, one department had accreditation for postgraduate training. Now, three departments have accreditation for postgraduate training. A significant number of consultants are our products here. They were trained here and they are working here. We had some water challenges initially, but we have been able to sink about four boreholes. We also had a light challenge, but the state government graciously gave us two 500KVA generators. We were able to get 120KVA generators and some small generators that we use in different parts of the hospital. We had a space constraint, the hospital was always full. So, we approached the government and it graciously got us an annexe. We have some beds there and we admit patients in the annexe. We were able to build additional clinics in the annexe. We were also able to build an NHIS scheme over time and I think we were able to achieve something there. Although we still have the space constraint, I think the state will soon address that. We need to get a new administrative block and possibly build additional rooms in this hospital.

So far, what are your challenges in this hospital?

I have mentioned some of the course of answering some questions. Space is still a problem. We have a large influx of patients, virtually every day, yet no space. Unfortunately, because patients know that we are doing well if they come and we say there is no space, they will insist on staying. There are challenges caused by patient relations. We also have the issue of the office complex. Some consultants don’t have offices here, so we need additional offices for them. Although this is not peculiar to us, it is a common problem in most hospitals.

Tell us about your background.

Dr Ahmed Ashuku is the Chief Medical Director of Dalhatu Afraf Specialist Hospital, Lafia. An indigene of Nasarawa State, he was born in the 60s, schooled in Lafia. I schooled in Kogi State at one time. I completed my secondary education in Government Secondary School, Obi, in Nasarawa State after which I attended School of Business Studies at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Thereafter, I started medicine. I did my housemanship at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Kaduna. I did my NYSC in Kastina State after which I worked in General Hospital, Shendam. I also worked in General Hospital, Barkin Ladi before I went for my postgraduate studies at Bayero University, Kano. That is Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano. I did my posting in Kano. After finishing the postgraduate programme and qualified as a consultant surgeon, I was employed by Bayero University Kano in the Department of Surgery. I was also a consultant at Aminu Bello Teaching Hospital. Aside from that, I was also a visiting consultant to some hospitals. At some times, Federal Medical Centre, Birnin Kudo and Mohammed Abdullahi Specialist Hospital in Kano. I worked as a consultant in some other hospitals and from there, I started working in Dalhatu Afraf Specialist Hospital in 2010. In addition, at some time, I was the Chief Resident Doctor during my training. I am a member of Nigerian Medical Association and was employed in the rank of lecturer 1 in the university, and I rose to become a senior lecturer in 2007 at Bayero University. So, I was a senior lecturer when I was appointed here in 2010.