How Anambra General Hospitals operated without medical doctors for eight years — Investigation

Investigations into the operations of general hospitals in Anambra state have revealed that government hospitals operated without medical doctors as findings further disclosed that one medical doctor handled more than three hospitals simultaneously.

Findings also revealed that government hospitals have been faced with a dearth of human resources leading to acute shortage of medical personnel to work in government-owned medical facilities. Another problematic issue discovered is the incessant and recurrent brain drain in government health facilities due to poor remunerations, incentives and harsh working conditions which culminated into flights for better working conditions and quest for greener pastures elsewhere.

Hence, a total collapse of public health facilities in Anambra state is imminent as there may be sanctions placed on general hospitals not providing comprehensive services to the populace especially where a standby medical doctor does not exist. At the moment, 19 out of the 38 general hospitals in Anambra state do not have medical doctors.

In order to guarantee quality assurance and comprehensive healthcare delivery in Anambra state, the present administration of Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo has taken a giant step to reverse the melancholic state of general hospitals in the last 8 years.

This is clearly evident in the words of the Honourable Commissioner for Health Dr. Ben Obidike when he told our correspondent that the state government has advertised vacancies for qualified medical doctors from all over the country to change the narratives of public health facilities in the state.

Although Obidike pointed out that the dissolution of the board of Civil Service Commission and other boards were delaying the recruitment of medical doctors for the general hospitals, he was however optimistic that the constitution of the boards would greatly facilitate the employment of doctors into the hospitals as Governor Soludo was committed to saving lives through quality healthcare.

The Health Commissioner stated that a general hospital should at least have three medical doctors to function effectively.

He said government also intends to embark on partnerships to boost the operations and services of the general hospitals while task force is also in place to monitor activities of the hospitals.

This is even as he stressed that health should not be politicised and the current administration in Anambra state was working assiduously to strengthen health institutions for comprehensive healthcare delivery especially in public health facilities.