Top official of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Medical Advisory Chairman (CMAC), says safety of patients, hospital staff members are of paramount importance to the management of the institution.Chairman, CMAC, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi, Dr Joseph Ugbaja said this during the opening ceremony of the 5-Day NAUTH COVID-19 training step down for medical laboratory scientists of the hospital.
The elaborate 5-day programme is part of efforts by the management to enhance the performance and safety of the medical laboratory scientists in the hospital.’’
Ugboaja noted that the medical laboratory scientists were strategically important to the health sector as most of the cases presented in the hospital must pass through laboratory scientists.These laboratory scientists are expected to carry out tests on the patients’ specimen and will have to remain safe.
The truth about the workings of any hospital is that the safety of all the staff members is interdependent. If anything goes wrong in any department, it can affect other staff in other departments.This is just like a chain; the strength of any chain is determined by its weak point,’’ Ugboaja explained.
Ugboaja, an obstetrician and gynecologist said that the management was doing everything possible to ensure that Personal Protective Equipment (PPR) would be made available to staff members of NAUTH.The chairman, however, noted that the personal protective equipment was very expensive.
The cost of each PPE ranges between N7, 000 and N15, 000. Interestingly, a patient can use more than 10 of this in a day.The situation on ground in the country today has made it imperative for public spirited individuals and corporate institutions to assist the hospitals in procuring PPEs.He emphasised that the responsibility of providing quality Medicare to the people should not be left to the government alone.
