The Chief Medical Director, Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido Ekiti, Professor Adekunle Ajayi, has harped on the need for members of the public to take ownership of government enterprises in their areas and support them for more qualitative and effective service delivery.
Ajayi, who said FETHI was in dire need of support for infrastructures and services to the tune of over N2billion, called on stakeholders to support the federal government facility in furtherance of “our desire to continue with the evolutionary journey of repositioning the hospital for greatness.”
The CMD, who said on Wednesday during the maiden edition of FETHI Stakeholders’ Forum that the hospital, under him, had grown in leaps and bounds in the restoration of quality service delivery and infrastructures improvement, harped on the need for further developments through support.
He said, “Government is stretched out of its element in trying to manage something as complex as healthcare, with ensuing improved health outcomes in a tailspin. So, it is imperative to beef up the financing system of this sector by exploring largely non-governmental contributions.”
Ajayi said the hospital’s areas of support need included building and equipping of a modern Geriatric Centre valued at about N150million for senior citizens’ need; construction of 150-bed capacity modern patient’s ward valued at N700m; construction of N100m befitting VIP/Amenity Ward for high net-worth people; and N150m conference hall.
Others included an upgrade of the renal and cardiac centre, which the CMD said was already about 75 per cent completed in terms of investigation, adding, “We need help so that we can begin interventional services in renal and cardiac medicine. This requires huge investment and involves capacity building training as well.”
According to him, FETHI is also looking forward to assistance from stakeholders and well-meaning Nigerians on the Indigent Trist Fund for compassionate assistance for the healthcare needs of the poor; continuous renovation of existing structures; and strategic capacity building for clinical and non-clinical members of staff.
Ajayi said the recourse to the public support despite the increasing government funding of tertiary health institutions in the last few years, saying, “We still require a lot more than we generate and get from the government to better serve our teeming patients.”
The chairman of FETHI Governing Council, Mohammed Sukababa, said the Nigerian health system was facing a “tough time that requires all hands to be on deck at a period like this. Government cannot do it alone. Therefore the need to bring improvement into our health systems demands collective efforts.”
Sukababa said the forum’s goal “is to ensure that the standard of quality health service delivery that is affordable and accessible is not compromised. Your role as stakeholders to support the efforts of government in making sure that the current spate of developments in the hospital is sustained cannot be over-emphasised.”
The Founder, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Aare Afe Babalola, who was chairman of the event, lamented that medical equipment was very expensive in Nigeria since most of them were imported especially in view of the falling value of the naira, urged stakeholders to make generous donations to the cause of FETHI as he charged the hospital management to continue to look inwards as well.
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