Nigeria appears headed for a grave health crisis as the nation’s
hospitals face a severe shortage of qualified medical staff in key areas
of specialisation, forcing thousands of patients abroad yearly. Those
who are unable to afford travelling abroad are left to die or placed on
queues that in some hospital last years.
With the country taking the negative lead in several global health
indicators, health personnel who should help reverse the tide are in
short supply across the country with training and recruitment
increasingly ebbing.
Currently, the country has only 600 paediatricians to care for its over 40
million children, compared to the United Kingdom’s over 5,000 for 20
million children. The figures are more depressing in other areas of
medical specialisation. With the rising cases of cancer across the
country, there are only a little above 15 oncologists; 10 neurosurgeons
to attend to issues related to the nervous system; and 120 urologists to
manage conditions related to the male urinary tract and reproductive
organs such as prostate, kidney, bladder cancers, prostate cancer,
testicular cancers, infertility in men, sexual dysfunction etc.
There are currently no podiatrists in the country- a doctor that treats
conditions of the foot, ankle and related structures of the leg; a key
specialisation considering the nation’s teeming diabetics.
While all hospitals in the country are affected, the pressure caused by
the shortage is by far clearer in some hospitals than others. At the
Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, Ikeja, for instance,
the shortage of doctors has led to many resident doctors remaining on
call for a month, overworked. Patients in need of special care are forced
to remain on queues for weeks, months and, in some cases, years.
Endless wait
Nine-year-old Abdul Ibrahim was five when his parents took him to the
paediatric unit of LASUTH in 2009. He needed surgery to treat hernia.
Such services are promptly delivered in private clinics, and even with
usual delays in government hospitals, a patient should get attended to
in three months, some experts and patients have said. But Abdul’s first
appointment for an operation was one year after-2010. However, when
they called at the hospital 12 months later, the operation was
rescheduled repeatedly until 2013 while he continued with routine
checkups. The reasons for the delay, according to the hospital, were
the already waiting line of people scheduled for the same procedure
and the few doctors available to provide it.
“We came to LASUTH in 2009 and after thorough examination, he was
diagnosed with hernia. One of his testes was swollen and it was
causing him a lot of discomfort and he could not play or move with it,”
Abdul’s mother, Silifat Ibrahim, narrated to PREMIUM TIMES recently,
sobbing.
“We felt the surgery would be done as soon as possible but to our
surprise, we were asked to come back in March 2010 for the operation.
When I complained, I was told that there were hundreds of patients
waiting for the same surgery at the unit.”
When Abdul showed up with his mother on their assigned date in 2010,
they were turned back again and given another date for 2011. The
hospital said there was spillover of patients from 2010. A year later, in
2011, the story turned worse: Abdul’s file was missing.
“They had reassured me that my son’s operation would be done that
day and we got there as early as 6 a.m. but the nurse told us again
that the surgery would not take place because his file was missing. The
nurse just said I should better go and start the tests all over again,
because without it there would be no surgery,” his mother recalled.
While the delay continued, the young Abdul remained in excruciating
pains with abdominal ache that gave him sleepless nights. His parents
were subsequently told to return in November 2012.
But the family received the shock of their lives. When they took Abdul
who was still in pains to the hospital in November, they were told to
come back in 2013, four years after he was initially billed for the
surgery.
“When Ibrahim first visited the hospital, he was five years old and now
he is nine. We see other patients lamenting that they have been
coming even before 2009. My fear is that they may also postpone the
surgery from 2013 to 2014,” the little boy’s mother lamented amidst
sobs.
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