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| Dr Dakwak |
OUR HOSPITALS WERE IN BAD SHAPE
BEFORE NOW- DR DAKWAK
Dr Sati Dakwak is the Chief Medical
Director of Hospitals Management Board Jos. In this interview with African Drum,
he enumerated some of the achievements of the Board since his assumption as
CMD. Excerpts
Why was the Hospitals Management Board established and what are its functions?
The first heading was in 1977 and it was
called Plateau State Health Services Management Board but we have an amended
edit which done in 1989. It was changed from health to Plateau State Hospital
Management Board. We are meant to employ, discipline our staff and fire them at
any level if there is a problem. There should have been no interference from
anywhere.
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It is an independent board even though it is a
board from the government. The functions of the board are numerous which
include to manage, administer, control all hospitals especially medical nursing
and medical services which was established and controlled by the state
government. So if you look at it, we control all the hospitals at the
peripherals which are the secondary services.
Even
the specialist hospital is supposed to be under the board but I think they are
directly under the office of the governor.
Another function is to ensure that the standard treatment and care
provided for patients in the hospitals is of the highest standard. We also
established clinics, laboratories in such stations and other institution
houses. We also planned and developed some of the hospitals and the state
houses in the state. To the new hospitals that are coming up, it is an advice
from here that each local government should have at least one secondary service
so people would not need to travel to another one.
That is why the government is working hard to
make sure that the Kanke and Langtang south hospitals secondary staff
institutions are completed as soon as possible. Like for the one in Riyom, we
are just waiting for commissioning. The bedding and everything are ready. It is
the responsibility of the ministry to do that and not us. There are so many
other functions I don't need to say because you will discover that this board
controls 8 general hospitals which are Angware, Bilade, Mangu, Pankshin,
Langtang, Shendam, Tunkus, and Dengi. These are giant hospitals. We have other
quotations in places like Kwala, Bokkos, Bassa, Riyom, Wase. We also
the government dental sector in Jos. We also control the comprehensive health
center at Dadin Kowa. They run a secondary service.
You've been in this office for
almost three years now, what will you say has been your achievements?
When
we took over from the previous regime, we know the office was in bad shape.
First and foremost there were no ambulances in any of the hospitals but when
the governor Lalong came on board, he bought about 5 new ambulances. Shendam,
Pankshin, Mangu, Langtang and Barkin Ladi all got one each. We are still
expecting another set. Secondly, when he came in, there was pending promotion
and within some few months, we were asked to release the promotion that has
been on our tables for 2 years and that gingered the workers to give their
best.
We
are also releasing the promotion for 2016/2017. We got the permission from the
head of service last week and I'm sure if you check, you would see some people
collecting their letter of promotion. You could also what this government is
doing in regard to uncompleted hospital projects in Langtang south, Kanke and
Riyom. As a matter of fact, Riyom Hospital has been completed and handed over
to the ministry and I believe before the end of this year, other hospitals will
be ready for commissioning.
When
this government came on board, there was no oxygen in hospitals all over and
you know People now are getting wise and the lawyers are moving all over asking
for cases. The issue of oxygen has also been taken care of. Again, when we came
in, the first thing we did was to equip our staff with the equipment to
assess patients. We bought BT apparatuses, stethoscope, and thermometers etc
and distributed all over to the hospitals. We also bought bed sheets and
pillowcases and distributed to the hospitals. We made theater outfits which
were given to individuals to use. We supplied new major surgical sets in the theater;
we also gave them cesarean section sets, delivery sets and minor sets. We also
equipped the hospitals in Dengi, Tunkus and Shendam with operating tables.
Apart from that, we discovered that some hospitals don't have ultrasound
machines in which most of them demanded.
Other things we did include repairing of
generators because most of the hospitals are in rural which don't have
electricity grids connection. We service the generators monthly. So in most
places their generators are functioning very well now. The old ambulances that
were available have been refurbished. We dug a new bore hole in Angware because
there was no water supply. We have engaged another company where we can get a
place to dig a bore hole and connect to the hospitals. We were given permission
immediately by the local government and we have given them all they need to
start the work with. A new bore hole is also dug in Yurok, on the way to Shendam.
We
refurbished equipments in general hospital in Shendam, Langtang, Pankshin,
Mangu and Barkin Ladi and we are in the second phase of refurbishing other
hospitals too. The general hospitals under Shendam, Langtang and Pankshin are
under reconstruction. The mortuaries in some few hospitals like Shendam,
Langtang, Pankshin have been refurbished because the compressor failed a few
times and the one in Barkin Ladi is under construction. In Pankshin in
particular, instead of putting in the fridge, the corpses are injected instead
to preserve them. We are going to extend that process to others. When we came
in, most of the hospitals didn't have sign boards. We are running NHIS scheme,
therefore we need to advertise the hospitals so we have made signboards for all
the hospitals. We change the gate and the main door to this very building. We
also bought fire extinguishers for all the hospitals since the old ones were
expired. We also made safes for keeping important documents in Bokkos, Langtang
and other few hospitals. We got incinerators for Mangu and Barkin Ladi. We have
renovated the living quarters in Bassa and the renovation of the MS quarters in
Bassa is currently ongoing. The repairs of the X-ray machines have been done in
Pankshin and Langtang and we are considering buying an X-ray machine to back up
the one in Langtang. There was no water supply at the dental center here in Jos
and the attendants were complaining so we refurbished the borehole. There is
now supply of water there.
Also
when we came in, this NHIS issue was a confused thing. People didn't know what
to do with it and how it can be utilized; like how to access your money. When I
came in to this office, I set a committee to go round and get all the type of
services that NHIS has and who are those for our hospitals. That was the first
step we took. We brought the number of services either primary or secondary. We
discovered that most of our services were primary and so we needed to apply to
have secondary. If you are running a primary, most or what you are doing is
done for free. We have gotten approvals in some hospitals that are running both
primary and secondary. We are lucky to have that and we know those people that owe
us, those services, HMO's that are in our hospitals.
So
we all know them and we can approach them. Even when we go to the headquarters
in Abuja, we know these people are in our hospitals and we have not seen their
effects and we can calculate what they are owing us. Some few days ago, there
was an advertisement that those activities that are owned by HMO's should be
calculated and taken to them. In the board headquarters, we have about 8
departments which are the medical, dental, nursing, pharmacy, accounts and
auditing, laboratory, administration, planning and statistics departments. They
are all working very effectively and they are headed by a directorate.
So what are the challenges that your
Board is facing?
The
major thing which government is already looking into is under-staffing. That is
the major problem. We used to have a lot of workers, almost 2,000, now we are
1,400. A memo has been written to the governor and attention has been given and
we are waiting for him to give us permission. We are very hopeful and with the
new hospitals we are about to commission, they will need to give us permission
to increase the number of workers and I'm quite sure the governor will do it.
Despite the shortage, we have been doing very well because the government is
paying the salaries very regularly which is where you find motivation and
promotion is coming as at when due which is another way of motivation. Despite
the fact that the staffs are very few, they are doing very well because they
know their needs are being attended to. I always tell them that we are here for
them and that if they are not there, we are not here.
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