The
Provost/Medical Director, Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta, Ogun State,
Dr. Timothy Adebowale, says 50 indigent patients have been abandoned by their
families.
Addressing
the House of Representatives Committee on Health Institutions which visited the
facility as part of its oversight functions at the weekend in Abeokuta, Adebowale
said the hospital management had taken over the responsibility of feeding and
medication of the affected patients.
He told his
visitors that the hospital, which was established in 1954, urgently needs
renovation, as most of its structures were too old to serve their purpose.
His words:
“In our facility here, we also operate community health, people come for
ante-natal. Some of our clients are poor and vulnerable. Many of them,
immediately they make the first payment for their treatment, they do not pay
anymore. But we need money to survive.”
“Some of
them are abandoned by their relatives, and we are responsible for their feeding
and medication through our lean resources. Presently, there are 50 of such
cases in this hospital.”
The medical
director said the facility also suffers from stigmatisation, perhaps from the
name ‘Aro’, which people had derisively twisted to mean someone with mental
problem.
He
continued: “Philanthropists do not want to associate with us, they do not want
to be seen here, lest people begin to think they had come for psychiatric
medical attention or visit a relation who has such a challenge.”
The
challenges notwithstanding, he said the centre remains focused on treating,
training and researching on mental health.
Adebowale
disclosed that about 500 people in local communities access mental health
treatment, appealing to the lawmakers to ensure they get the necessary funding
to engender quality service delivery.
He also
pleaded with them to ensure that their ‘outsource service fund’ and overhead
cost which were already in arrears from 2016 were paid promptly.
Betty
Apiafi, who responded on behalf of her colleagues, promised to intervene in
getting more funds for federal-owned medical facilities, most especially
teaching hospitals nationwide.
The
lawmakers also visited the Federal Medical Centre, Idi Aba, Abeokuta, where the
Medical Director, Prof. Adewale Musa, led them on inspection of project sites
within the premises.
She told
newsmen that some of the health institutions in Lagos and Ogun states were
seriously contending with inadequate funding and incessant strikes.
Apiafi said
following the amendment on the TEtfund bill, which she said had passed through
third reading in the House, federal health institutions too would begin to
benefit from the purse immediately it gets presidential assent.
To address
the issue of outsource service fund, the committee promised to approach the
Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, to ensure the money was released to the
health institutions.
*Guardian
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