~Hospital Managers making mess of the State Health Insurance Scheme
Sir,
Okengwe General Hospital is one of the oldest comprehensive health centre in Kogi State and the only government hospital in Okene II Constituency, Okene local government area. In recent past, the facility provides full medical services with about 3 medical officers specialist in different fields of human medicine.
The administration of former governor, Alh. Yahaya Bello had equipped the hospital with critical infrastructure, water facilities, laboratory equipment and a new ambulance. The hospital also boast of a morgue, staff quarters and perimeter fencing that guaranteed security of patients, visitors and resident medical officers. Okengwe General Hospital is also one of the accredited health facilities for the state health insurance scheme and this is the focus of this open letter.
My visit to the health centre few days ago to access health care services provided me the opportunity to get first hand information on the sorry state of the hospital. The hospital presently lack the very facilities that initially qualify it as a secondary health centre due to mismanagement of material and financial resources. Okengwe General Hospital now lack basic drugs and other consumables with only one medical doctor.
The hospital ambulance has not worked for months because there is no single staff driver in the hospital. In short, the hospital is now a shadow of it former self courtesy of management inefficiency, ineptitude and lack of financial transparency.
Exactly 9:00am on Monday 9th September 2024, I arrived the premises of Okengwe General Hospital in company of my little daughter who was visibly sick and in need of urgent medical attention. Effort to access medical care proved abortive as the hospital is now incapacitated and can’t dispense even paracetamol leaving patients at the mercy of few nurses who privately sold drugs and medical items to patients at exorbitant prices.
Civil servants and their dependants who are beneficiaries of the state health insurance scheme were seen stranded at the hospital because the pharmacy section could not supply any of the doctor’s prescriptions for treatment even those on hospital admission because there is no single drug to dispense.
I personally made enquiry to ascertain the reason behind the current state of things at the hospital and why patients could not access medical care especially those on health insurance scheme whose payments have already been made by the state government. I was reliably informed that the medical director and few other managers of the hospital have personally utilized all revenue generated in the last 3 months including monies for the state drug revolving scheme.
So, in the last 3 months, the hospital have no single drug and other medical items to dispense for the treatment of patients. The hospital have no resources to treat common illness like malaria and typhoid fever.
While the state government has fulfilled all her obligations to provide medical care in the state, the managers of Okengwe General Hospital are making mess of this good initiative.
I want to humbly appeal to the Honourable Commissioner of Health, Kogi State Hospital Management Board (HMB), Kogi State Drug Management Agency, and Kogi State Health Insurance Agency (KSHIA) to investigate this anomaly with a view to correcting the wrongs, provides more medical personnel and allow the people of Okengwe district, the civil servants under health insurance scheme and the general public access proper, effective and comprehensive medical services.
– Abdulmumin Abubakar writes from Okenwge in Okene Local Government Area.
