Some units in
government hospitals
in Lagos may be forced
to shut down due to
an acute shortage of
medical doctors in the
state, National Mirror
investigations can
authoritatively reveal.
A survey conducted at
many of the hospitals
over a period revealed
that hundreds of
patients that besiege
the general hospitals
everyday now have to
queue for hours
before receiving
medical attention.
Doctors complain of
being overworked, with
many of them staying
on duty for over 24
hours at a stretch.
National Mirror
investigation revealed
that the state
government has not
employed any resident
doctor in the last two
years at the Lagos
State University
Teaching Hospital,
LASUTH, leaving the
care of thousands of
patients in the hands
of medical officers,
who are mostly
general practitioners.
A resident doctor is a
medical doctor
receiving advanced
training in a specialist
field. In the teaching
hospital setting, the
resident doctors
usually attend to the
majority of patients
and render specialised
services under the
supervision of
consultants who are
fewer in number.
Repeated visits to
LASUTH, however,
revealed many
departments are
without resident
doctors. At the
department of
medicine, for instance,
many of the units
which should be
supervised by resident
doctors are being run
by medical officers.
In one of the units, the
only consultant, who
did not want his name
mentioned, confirmed
that he was running
the unit with just two
medical officers, which
he described as
“grossly inadequate”.
“In a department like
my own, there should
be at least three to
four consultants, two
to three senior
registrars per
consultant, three to
four registrars and
three to four resident
doctors per
consultant,” the
consultant, who
pleaded anonymity,
told National Mirror .
This, he said, has
increased the workload
of the few doctors on
ground with one
doctor attending to no
fewer than 40 patients
or more daily. “We
need at least a triple of
the number of doctors
in this unit,” he said.
National Mirror learnt
there are currently 24
doctors at the surgical
out-patients
department, a
situation one of the
doctors said was
inadequate for all the
units.
“There is so much
pressure on us,” the
doctor said, and
bluntly refused to
speak further.
Some doctors, bogged
down by the pressure
of work, were not
ready to spare any
time for interviews.
Some also told
National Mirror they
were civil servants and
would not talk without
the permission of the
hospital authorities.
A female doctor at the
paediatric department
simply walked this
reporter out of her
unit even when our
correspondent
pretended to be a
mother requiring
information about
hospital admission.
“Look, I have so many
children to attend to. If
you want any
information go to the
information unit. The
right people to tell you
what you want are
there. Please leave,”
she said.
A nurse at the medical
out-patient unit also
confirmed the
pressure of work on
the doctors. She told
National Mirror that
majority of them were
being so overworked
that they did not have
time for break.
They send attendants
to buy biscuits and soft
drinks to eat. “Many of
them resume work at
8a.m. and close
around 7p.m. Some
even work
continuously for three
days without going
home.
Some of them will
even delegate their
duties, telling nurses
around to attend to
some of the patients
and prescribe
necessary drugs simply
because of the stress
and workload on
them.
“Others who will not
delegate will just
attend to patients in a
hurry and release
them,” she added.
Further investigation at
the obstetrics and
gynaecology, O&G,
department in LASUTH
also revealed that
there are only five
doctors in the
department. The
department caters for
scores of women who
visit the department
daily for specialised
care.
A source at the
department told
National Mirror that
the doctors could only
attend to only 10 new
patients and about 30
followups daily.
It was a pathetic
situation at the Lagos
Island General Hospital
when National Mirror
visited the surgical out-
patients department.
There was a long
queue of patients
either waiting to be
booked for a surgical
operation or waiting to
take their turn to be
taken to the theatre.
One of the patients,
who identified himself
simply as Friday, was
seen pleading with
doctors to attend to
him as he complained
of a bladder problem
and obvious urinary
incontinence.
Another patient, Mrs.
Nike Ademola, with an
undisclosed ailment
lamented openly that
she had been sitting in
one spot since 8a.m.
when she was called
and was yet to be
attended to at 3p.m.
National Mirror noted
that there are just one
consultant and one
doctor in the unit. Both
could not be reached
for interview.
A source, however,
confirmed that the
doctors are always so
overwhelmed by the
number of patients
they see daily that it
now seems “they have
developed thick skin to
the cries of patients.”
“Doctors in that unit
are usually
overstressed.
By the time they attend
to about 25 patients,
they are worn out
already. Most of the
time, they work for two
days at a stretch. Their
case can be described
as an abnormality that
has become normal in
the system,” he said.
The situation is not
different in other
departments of the
hospital visited by
National Mirror. At
Gbagada General
Hospital, a young man,
Ayoola, narrated how
his wife was rushed
from a private hospital
in Ketu at exactly
5.20a.m. and could not
see a doctor until it
was almost 9a.m.
“Kemi was about seven
months pregnant and
was draining. She
started complaining of
pain yesterday around
10p.m. so I took her to
a nearby clinic.
But the doctor called
me aside and said he
had to refer her to a
government hospital
because he suspected
that the baby was
dead based on the
kind of odour from her
body. She needed to
see a specialist to treat
the infections which he
described as “sepsis.”
“The doctor actually
advised that I took her
to either LASUTH or
Gbagada immediately
but I pleaded that we
wait till the morning
because there was no
transport around that
time.
I was, however, lucky
to see a friend who
agreed to take us in his
car by 5a.m. “At the
Gbagada General
Hospital, we were
directed to the O&G
department from the
emergency unit but
there was no doctor to
attend to us with my
wife reeling in pain. I
tried to look for a
doctor and I saw one
man sleeping on a
table who turned out
to be the only doctor
on duty in that unit.
A nurse pleaded with
me to leave him alone
because he had been
the only doctor on
duty and he had
‘worked himself out,’ to
use her exact word. “I
wonder why
government should
allow that to happen.
Anyway I had to start
shouting and begging
that they should not
allow my wife to die
before a doctor
eventually came to
attend to her at 9a.m.
“I must, however,
commend the doctors
and the nurses. The
doctor actually told me
my wife would have
died if he had not
referred her.”
National Mirror also
visited the dental
department of the
hospital where there
was no single doctor
on duty. It was
gathered that only
three doctors out of
the total six in the
department had all
gone for a seminar.
The other three were
reportedly on leave.
The department
currently does not
have a consultant.
The only nurse on duty
was heard telling
patients to come back
the following day. A
lady who complained
of severe tooth pain
was advised to take
Paracetamol and come
back the following day
as there was no doctor
around to attend to
her.
The nurse also advised
some other patients
with serious cases to
try other hospitals for
proper medical
attention. Lagos State
Chairman of the
Nigerian Medical
Association, NMA, Dr.
Francis Faduyile,
confirmed the dearth
of doctors in Lagos
public hospitals, saying
lack of adequate
medical personnel had
become a general
problem at LASUTH in
particular.
“Over two years now,
doctors have not been
employed at LASUTH,
those on ground are
not trained to be
promoted to be
registrars and
registrars not trained
to be senior registrars.
As a result, there is a
general lack of senior
registrars within the
system and this really
affects the system.
“Many departments
are affected by this in
the sense that where
there should be two or
three senior registrars
you have only one or
no registrar at all.
The lack of adequate
medical personnel is a
general problem at
LASUTH. “Doctors are
really overworked, you
know an overworked
doctor is a stressed
doctor and we all
know what can
happen to decision
making during
stressful situations. The
patients will always be
at the receiving ends of
such a terrible
situation.
“Lagos State, being a
‘centre of excellence’, is
supposed to have
many of these
consultants for the
people to enjoy their
benefits. The
underlying fact is that
a consultant is
supposed to have at
least two or three
senior registrars so
that he will be able to
expand his work for
the work to be
appreciated. Also,
under each senior
registrar, there should
be about two or three
registrars.”
He added that within a
unit of a consultant,
there should be a
minimum of 10
doctors learning under
him. But in the case of
LASUTH, there is a
consultant without a
registrar or a senior
registrar without a
registrar, hence the
consultant will not
work effectively, the
work will be
hampered.
Such cases can be very
difficult, and this
accounts for why
doctors have been
crying for more people
to complement the
work the consultants
are doing.
“A consultant will
always need the
registrars to rally round
him to take care of the
patients when he
performs a surgery
instead of him being
tied down to see one
patient.”
Asked about the
number of consultants,
senior registrars and
registrars needed in a
hospital like LASUTH,
Dr. Faduyile said:
“LASUTH is big, it is the
highest rated in Lagos
State, so it depends on
the outlook of the
government on the
number of consultants,
senior registrars and
registrars it wants. It
depends on the
number of specialties
the government wants
to have.
“For example, it is
possible the
government decides it
is not taking
neurosurgeons, which
means people in Lagos
that need
neurosurgical
treatment are doomed
to die or they go to
another place.”
Efforts by National
Mirror to get the state
Commissioner of
Health, Dr Jide Idris,
and his counterpart in
Information, Lateef
Ibirogba, to react to
the development was
unsuccessful as they
did not pick their calls
or reply text messages
requesting for
interview or asking
direct questions on
our findings in the
state hospitals.

http://nationalmirroronline.net/new/shortage-of-doctors-hits-lagos-hospitals/

The Nigeria health sector, just as the education sector and every other sector, is doomed!
What do you expect when top medican experts in Nigeria are flying to the US, Canada where they are paid Millions of Naira per month and work under favourable conditions with best medical facilities? You pay them pea nuts here in Nigeria, make them work for long hours, they get low current(electricity) in the middle of surgery or power will go off(electricity supply)!
I don't blame them. Even secondary school students now opt for IT, Banking, Petroleum Engineering, Estate management, etc in the university. They are sectors where money dey yappa.. Doctors are paupers and they are not appreciated by the government here in Nigeria.
Unless the government does something about this situation, there will be a time when there will be no medical consultant and hospitals in Naija. Hahaha