Wole Balogun, Ado-Ekiti
Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH), Ado-Ekiti, Dr. Kolawole Ogundipe, has said the challenge of brain drain is currently sound a death knell to the institution.
Ogundipe lamented that doctors and other important staff members are leaving the hospital in droves in search of better welfare packages.
Ogundipe said the institution was not immune from the economic recession pummeling the nation , which he said made it difficult to get the necessary infrastructure, equipment and personnel despite good subvention from Ekiti State government.
The CMD, however, pointed out that recent efforts by the state government to provide infrastructural facelift has led to the approval for residency training by Medical and Dental Council Association of Nigeria(MDCAN) in eight areas of specialties, including : Obstetrics and Gynecology, Family medicine, psychiatry, surgery, internal medicine, Opthalmology, Community Medicine and Paediatrics .
The CMD said these, in Ado-Ekiti, on Tuesday, during a press conference marking the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the tertiary institution.
According to him, “Mobility of labour is high in this hospital even when salaries are paid regularly. Our challenge has always been to employ a medical doctor today and within few months he will move to another place”.
To arrest the situation, Ogundipe said: “We have improved our staff welfare . A minimum of N1m is spent for staff training monthly. Many seminars, conferences and ground rounds are organized to serve as in-house training to get the staff informed, educated and acquire latest skills in practice of Medicine.
“Our staff also enjoy 50% discount on cost of treatment given to them in this hospital to cushion the effect of economic recession while promotion has been done up to 2017”.
Ogundipe stated that the institution has improved infrastructural facilities in Accident and Emergency Unit, built a new theatre unit and procure modern equipment for all the Laboratories to give quality service to the patients.
He said the hospital has built a dialysis and oncology centres to treat those afflicted with kidney infection and cancer, saying : “patients now receive treatment here rather than traveling abroad for survival”.
The CMD said two outreach centres have been established in Igbemo and Ire Ekiti to take medicare to the grassroots where poor people are predominantly domiciled.
He added that the tertiary health institution has secured accreditation from National Universities Commission(NUC), to run MBBS in Medicine and Surgery up to the final level, while the School of Nursing under it has got full accreditation for all its courses.
Ogundipe said the hospital now has Echo cardiogram machine to examine those with cardiac problem while the Opthamology department has made a breakthrough by repairing a retinal detachment in a young graduate of Ekiti State University.