Medical experts canvass one-stop health facilities approach

MEDICAL experts have canvassed a multi-dimensional approach to the health care delivery system in the country as a measure to improve the health care system in many hospitals.

Speaking on the occasion marking ‘International Day for Disaster Reduction’ in Ilorin, a medical officer with Medclev Multispecialists Hospital, Ilorin, Dr Lawal Ibrahim, said the measure would evolve arrangement of mergers among some hospitals towards conferring on them mega status and turning them into one-stop health facilities.

“Medical issues the world over today are being handled holistically. There is nothing like a one-man show thing any longer. If you could recollect, for instance, 70 per cent of diagnoses today are carried out by ophthalmologists. Some people are responsible for prescriptions while many others dispense. Palliative cares and even security issues and catering are all vital to the effective management of health issues.

“Therefore, in Nigeria, we need to operate our various hospitals especially the privately owned ones like mega banking structure. Merger and acquisitions should start on time to make quality health accessibility a pleasurable one for patients and their relatives. We need to shun the toga of pride and allow professionals of like minds to tinker the way forward in our health sector. That is the example we have laid at the Medclev,” he said.

ALSO READ: 2019 presidency: Like Atiku, like Mimiko

For the medical practitioner, it would be an excruciating experience for a pregnant woman involved in a motor accident with multiple fractures to be solely managed in an Obstetrics and Gynecology hospital without the involvement of an Orthopedic specialist, adding “if we have both specialists in a healthcare facility it will be better. That is simply the idea.”

Noting that his idea should not be viewed as the one to upstage the existing nation’s tertiary health institutions but a conscious effort to compliment them and halt incessant brain drain in the sector.

He described natural disasters as inevitable but believed they could be drastically reduced when envisaged just as he canvassed proper post-disaster management care as a compulsory unit for all the nation’s hospitals.

Besides, Ibrahim said an effective rapid response body consisting of all relevant stakeholders should be promptly assembled to mitigate high casualty rates during disasters.