PROF. Olufemi Fasanmade, the Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), on Monday appealed to managements of tertiary hospitals to deploy medical doctors to Primary Health Centres (PHCs) as support staff.

Fasanmade told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that deploying some doctors to Primary Health Centres (PHCs) would build confidence in patients and improve healthcare at the grassroots.

“The fact that you are working in LUTH does not mean you cannot go and help them in the Primary Health Centres or in other small centres.

“Say okay I’m going to be coming to this centre once a week from my busy schedule in LUTH; I want to operate cases here.

“That way not every case needs to be referred to the tertiary centre.

“A Primary Health Centre should be able to take care of things like Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT), immunisation.

“It is detrimental both to the government and to the people.

“For instance, you are going to a tertiary health centre, saying you want immunisation.

“See how big LUTH is, about 25 hectares of land with different buildings and departments and a peasant farmer just comes in saying she’s looking for immunisation.

“They are busy handling accident cases; they are busy handling people with brain tumour; and you are busy knocking.

“Which door do you want to even knock?

“Is it the emergency door, is it the out-patient, is it the surgical. So, is not meant for those types of patients.

“Also if government just put a nurse in each Primary Health Centre; a qualified nurse, an experienced nurse, youth corps doctors; then some basic laboratory staff are there, they can handle most of the cases that otherwise would have been coming to the teaching hospitals. ”

He said that the behaviours of some nurses and doctors posted to work in rural areas had also led to patients’ lack of confidence in Primary Health Centres,

The medical expert added that some of the nurses were going to work once a week and the doctors’ once in a month.

Fasanmade, who is also the Unit Head, Endocrinology Diabetes and Metabolism Division, LUTH, said that a typical Primary Health Centre should be about two to three houses next to a patient’s house, where the fellow could walk in and receive treatment within few minutes or an hour. (NAN)

– Jun. 18, 2018 @ 17:05 GMT |