A student of
the University of Lagos (UNILAG) who decided to be anonymous for the fear of
victimization, has revealed the infrastructural decay that has become of the
dental department in UNILAG college of medicine.
dental department in UNILAG college of medicine.
She said
this in a video and audio clips obtained by Saharareporters.
In the audio
recording, she exposed how ethical decadence on the part of Lagos State
University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) management and lack of dental equipment
continue to inflict hardship on the students and also expose the patients to
the risk of getting further infections.
“The dental
clinic is enough for you to get infected, the place is dirty and disgusting.
The chairs are old and do not work. Apart from the fact that the chairs are
inadequate, they are not swiped in-between patients” claiming that patient take
turn on the chair without properly disinfecting it after patient leaves before
clamping another patient on it.
The doctors
use one face mask for all the patients for a day. That is the fastest way to
get an infection, she said.
The video
also captured rusty equipment and the dirty environment where dental procedures
are carried out.
According to
the student, the epileptic power supply has made it almost impossible to use
the electric dental chair, hence procedure are done with the either of the two
mobile units available to over 60 students in both 500 level and 600 level.
However, the
dental chairs with many nonfunctional parts suddenly become available only when
officials of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) are in the clinic
for accreditation.
“When they
hear MDCN is coming, they only show what they want them to see...doing quick
fixes here and there and encourage students to pretend that all is well. The
clinic gets painted, looking very bright.
She added
that students are forced to pay for patient’s dental procedure so that they can
perform clinical which is one of the very important criteria that must be met
before any student can graduate.
“Most of the
materials for these procedures are provided by the students themselves even
after the patient has paid. You hear things like no glove, no face mask, no
prophylaxis paste, no cup, no local aesthetics just to name a few...we still
get to buy out of our pockets” she said.
The
students, she added, also provide their source of illumination during
procedures, with some relaying of phone flash lights, adding that many patients
leave unattended. “When patients come to the hospital, they are forced to go
back, and they do not return”.
On the
epileptic power supply, she alleged that the clinic has no alternative source
of power which renders the clinic inactive most of the time.
She said in
the recording; “Anyone who has been to this place knows there is no electricity
and there is no generator to power the dental clinic. The dental clinic needs
electricity to function. No electricity in a dental room is as good as an empty
room.”
Going
further, she claimed that when students complain about the power situation;
lectures simply say; “other people have struggled through this, we even
struggled through this, so you can also do it”.
She then
called on all stakeholders in the health sector to come to the aid of the fast
collapsing health care not only in LUTH but across the country.
Source: Saharareporters
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