18th May, 2011
Lagos State has adopted the policy of preventive maintenance of its public health facilities in order to ensure that the full benefits of its investment in the health sector are realised.
The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris has disclosed this while speaking in Lagos today at a press briefing commemorating the fourth year in office of the Fashola’s administration.
He explained that the policy entails the execution of maintenance contracts as soon as the facilities are delivered thereby creating employment opportunities for skilled and unskilled personnel.
He pointed out that government has continued to invest in and deliver high quality human and environmentally friendly infrastructure in the health sector relevant to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals based on the positive correlation between infrastructure and economic development.
“To enhance the efficiency of the health workforce as well as increase the scope and quality of services delivered at the health facilities, infrastructure upgrade that involves the revamping of health and related infrastructure through phased rehabilitation, equipping and or upgrading of existing health facilities and the construction of new ones at all levels of care are being embarked upon.
“The level of infrastructure upgrade would hopefully attract Nigerian health professionals in the Diaspora who left the country as a result of frustration,†Idris averred.
The commissioner explained that many projects are being implemented with the objective of enabling Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) and Lagos State College of Medicine (LASUCOM) achieve her goal of being at the forefront of contemporary and efficient tertiary healthcare delivery with respect to her statutory functions of research, training and clinical service delivery.
He listed some of the projects as including Office Block for the Faculty of Clinical Sciences, LASUCOM to provide 64 decent and befitting office accommodation for professorial staff and other consultants; the 3-Storey students’ hostel, LASUCOM to provide befitting accommodation and additional recreational facilities for 178 medical students of the College of Medicine; and the installation of an oxygen generating plant at LASUTH which puts the hospital in a unique position of being able to produce oxygen for her internal consumption, a situation that places the hospital in a position to boost her revenue base by making medical oxygen available to other public and private health facilities at competitive prices.
According to Idris, other on-going projects that will enable LASUTH achieve her goal of being at the forefront of contemporary and efficient tertiary healthcare delivery include the new Critical Care Unit at LASUTH; the three storey cardiac and renal centre at Gbagada; the 80-bed Trauma and Burns Centre at Gbagada; the renovation and extension of Ayinke House, LASUTH; installation of equipment for specialty care (pachymeter, CVF machine, orthopaedic and maxillofacial surgery, neurosurgery microscope and accessories, ENT suite etc); and the installation of a digital X-ray machine at LASUTH.
At the secondary health care level, Dr Idris noted that the objective of scaling up infrastructure in public secondary health facilities was essentially to decongest the tertiary health facility from attending to patients that could be appropriately managed at lower levels of care.
He listed government keys achievements at the secondary health care level as including the 20-bed Accident and Emergency Centre at the Toll gate, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway; ongoing construction and equipping of Maternal and Child Health Centres at Ajeromi, Amuwo Odofin, Alimosho, Etiosa (Lekki) and Surulere (Gbaja) General Hospitals at varying stages of completion; the Combined Clinics and Wards at Gbagada; and the installation of two (2) bed lifts at the Lagos Island Maternity Hospital.
Said he, “the Accident and Emergency Center at Toll gate is equipped with a full complement of staff with capacities for performing minor surgeries, laboratory and pharmaceutical services among others and is aimed at ensuring that victims of road accidents and other emergencies receive prompt medical attention to stabilise them and improve their outcomes.
“A total of 1,215 patients, a significant percentage of which required surgical interventions [reduction of fractures, traumatic brain injury, burns, abdominal visceral rupture etc] have been attended to at the facility since it was commissioned.â€
Dr Idris added that each hospital also processed and received approvals for the direct funding of various projects spanning the provision of utilities, upgrade and maintenance of equipment/facilities among others relevant to their scope of operations in line with the decentralization policy of the Health Sector Reform Law.
At the primary healthcare level, the commissioner noted that the Primary Healthcare Centers at Ibafon and Ajara in Ajeromi and Badagry local government areas respectively are being rehabilitated; while Primary Health Clinics at Alagbado and Lakowe in Alimosho and Ibeju-Lekki local government areas respectively have been constructed just as four wheel drive Toyota Hilux Double Cabin vehicles for Epe, Ikorodu, Etiosa, Ojo and Badagry local government areas have been procured.