HEALTH remains the most vital human treasure whose true value may not be so fully appreciated by many until its optimum operations is either slowed down or impaired by circumstances of ailments, afflictions or natural aging processes. Often, writers and public affairs commentators have come down so hard on Nigerian elite who make foreign health facilities their preferred health care centers even for what is commonly referred to as routine check-up.
Such fellows have in some cases been dubbed non-patriots whose actions contribute to the continuous drain pipe on the nation’s foreign exchange and desired economic growth. It is on the account of such people that official sources of the Federal Ministry Of Health have it that Nigeria loses about $2 billion yearly to medical tourism.
So much has also been written on the need to incentivize the medical workers and to upgrade their operational tools and the nation’s general healthcare environment. All those are laudable and of utmost importance for us to grow that critical sector. Many people did agree with Bill Gates when he said recently that Nigeria’s health spending is “very, very small” and as such insufficient to reduce high maternal and child mortality rates.
The word ‘small’ in the context of use is an apt euphemism for ‘poor’. We must however, come to terms with the fact that there’s so much wrong with the attitude of the average health worker in Nigeria. So many agitate for a special salary for this category of workers, understandably because of the sensitive and essential nature of services they provide. We however, need to factor-in
the disposition and readiness to diligently render such services. This is the thrust of my worry in this article. How do you evaluate the service disposition of a health worker who spends hours on private telephone calls and social media interactions while patients, the very reason for their being at the duty posts are wreathing in agonising pain. On a daily basis, there are countless complaints of network issues or systems shut down. Ailing patients, many in critical situations are advised to be patient with the system and its operators. Of course they do not appear to have much options in the given circumstance. When such issues appear resolved, then it is time for the officer at one point or the other to spend about an hour to eat that meal which was possibly brought from home. No sense of urgency.
No awakening for emergencies. No palpable feelings of empathy. No demonstration of the true value placed on human life. Considering the chained nature of health care service delivery, all the patients will have to wait, sometimes endlessly. While all those are happening, many are slumping, others gasping for breath. Some who walked in, in anticipation of some form of relief are being stretchered out before help could come. Hope has faded away. And in many cases, the expected help never comes.
Sickness on its own opens the door for loneliness and some form of depression. Coming to a care center and not finding succour can make the experience more agonising. Painfully, many of these hospitals are turning into mere prescription centers due to the persisting culture of out-of-stock syndrome.
This makes it the more expedient for health workers to begin to adapt to patient-centered health care principles that can lead to improved overall outcomes. Patients-centered healthcare system prioritizes the individual needs, values, and preferences of each patient, emphasizing collaboration and shared decision-making between patients, families, and healthcare providers. This approach moves beyond focusing solely on a patient’s medical condition to also consider their emotional, social, and financial well-being.
Healthcare providers across the world acknowledge and respect each patient’s unique background, preferences, and values.
Patients are not treated as mere numbers, disposable pests and specimens for health statistics but active participants in their care, working with providers to develop and manage their treatment plans. Rude, inconsiderate and caustic staff should not be allowed direct interface with patients just as care laden and kindhearted communication become critical to patient centered healthcare delivery systems. I have written in condemnation of violent attacks against health care workers. It is a primitive and atavistic resort to venting of built-up frustrations.That is my stand and earnest conviction anytime, any day.
It remains a crude and unlawful thing to do; venting frustration of loss of a family member on a health worker on duty remains a most condemnable act. Sometimes, the doctors and nurses are caught in-between the need to urgently save lives and the expediency of operating within the rules of documentation, records keeping and procedures of payment for services.
This however doesn’t explain or in any way excuse situations where health workers on duty will be so deeply engrossed in social media platforms while patients needing urgent attention suffer neglect and some end up dying in the process. How do you feel when a patient on admission is passing through a life threatening situation with the fixed drip going the wrong way and the workers on duty are looking the other way. Some will even tell you outrightly that they are through with their shifts and the issue, no matter the urgency, should be left for those coming to take over in the next shift.
Such needles rigidity, human insensitivity and perverse officialdom!The protocol of Payments, records, documentation are all vital but should not overshadow the place of care and the primacy of the saving of lives. In health care, life can be saved through a needed intervention done in a matter of minutes. In like manner, delay or negligence of seconds have led to loss of lives only for us to start regretting that the fellow died before help could come. Access is critical in healthcare considerations but the truth remains that the hospital is beyond the building.
The totality of the attitude of the workers must be reoriented towards a patient-care service delivery. For now, many health care seekers will rather choose to travel abroad, risk self- medication or patronize the ubiquitous hawkers of ‘agbo’ herbal mixtures with all the implications and side effects on the organs. Patient-centered care (PCC) approach has continued to gain grounds in the healthcare delivery systems across the globe as the key to providing quality healthcare. Nations have cashed in on it to boost their medical tourism profiles. However, it still sounds alien to many health workers in Nigeria as it is said not to have been fully integrated into the management of the nation’s health care and the existing nursing practices. There is therefore an urgent need for continuous training, and upgrading of nurses and other relevant hospital workers in line with global recommended standards of providing quality healthcare service delivery to the people. In the light of this, the federal, state governments and local government councils should, in collaboration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council body, regulate, supervise, monitor and enforce the implementation of Patient Care-Centered healthcare system in our hospitals and health care Centers across the country. Experience has shown that it is not everybody that is cut out to render this kind of service in our hospitals. Such persons should be shown the way out.The time to go from rhetoric to the actual implementation of the key principles of patient or person centered healthcare delivery system is now.
