The Chief Medical Director, Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado Ekiti, Prof. Kayode Olabanji, said that the removal of bureaucracy in the recruitment of core clinical staff in the hospital saved the institution from the harsh effect of the japa syndrome.
Olabanji said that the hospital has been effectively rendering qualitative healthcare and training with support from the state government, regular subvention, welfare packages for workers, and modern equipment and facilities.
The CMD, who spoke at a press conference in Ado Ekiti on Saturday, added that with new equipment including endoscopy, CT scan, dental chair and facilities like the Intensive Care Unit, EKSUTH has more patronage and increased IGR to make staff comfortable and meet the infrastructure and equipment needs.
He said, “There is the japa syndrome whereby Nigerians from all institutions travel outside the country. Of course, we are not excluded, our people also leave, but we have an advantage. Our wards cannot close down. There are no bureaucracies before we can replace them. Here in this hospital, we have permission to replace the core clinical staff that are exiting.
“We are addressing japa in a unique way. We are not suffering deprivation because we don’t have to wait for like three, or four months to process a waiver, permission, or approval. We have permission to replace them as soon as they are leaving. If today, the head of nurse tells me that five nurses have left, we have nurses on our list waiting to be employed. We need doctors now, if they apply, we interview and engage them”.
Olabanji, who said quality healthcare required huge funding, said, “To augment the monthly subvention and state government efforts, we are thinking outside the box to provide solutions to boost our IGR. We bought the dental chairs at the Dental Hospital which have increased patronage and revenue from our IGR.
“We are engaging Public Private Partnership. We now have equipment not known in this hospital in the past. We now have an endoscopy. Endoscopy is used to examine internal organs. We got endoscopy on PPP arrangement, we have been providing the services now, and we don’t have to refer patients.
“Also the 544-bed hostels project which would serve as accommodation for students, interns, and some transit staff is coming under PPP, the laboratory that we are equipping is PPP, so it is not everything that we go to the government cap in hand for. The government is aware that we are making our own efforts and is assisting us.
“The government has given the hospital an ICU where some of the more critically ill patients are taken care of. The government is also giving us a Neo-natal ICU. It is an intensive care where we take care of critically ill newborns etc.
“The patronage in the hospital has been on the increase. Most of the essential specialists are available at the consultant level, we are training more and most of our trainees are joining. We have patronage from the adjoining states. The statistics also show that the number of patients is increasing and we give the best of attention and salvage as many of them as weccan,” the CMD said.
He, however, said that the hospital had requested for increase in subvention “Since we are growing, there is incremental credit added to each salary. We are opening up new departments and units, so there is always a need for an increase in the subvention.
“One of the biggest problems we used to have was the power supply, we were depending so much on generators, spending so much on fuel, but now, the government has extended its Independent Power Project to this hospital and power is now more regular.
“Governor Biodun Oyebanji has a lot of political will to make sure that the citizens of Ekiti State enjoy good health. This can be seen and felt in all the tiers of healthcare practice from primary to secondary to tertiary and even networking with some private concerns and the federal level. He has done a lot for EKSUTH,” the CMD said.
