The Assistant Inspector General of Police, Force Medical, AIG (Dr) Modupe Olufunmilayo Obembe, has said that the police medical will be repositioned to meet international standards: “The repositioning is a priority and it will ensure we compete favourably with other hospitals in the country
“We will reposition the police medical to the best standard that it can compete with other privately owned hospitals of great repute across the country. We have to equip it like the Nigerian Army hospitals and with the state of art service.
“I have instructed that all officers of the police hospitals must live up to expectations and ready to trained and re-training of staff medical official would be of utmost importance to me.
“I will introduce what we call Staff of the Month and Year award. All these are to motivate the staff to work harder. The staff must also get promoted in line within their counterparts. I have given directive that all police hospitals must be equipped with drugs, as this is the only way to keep patients happy with services rendered.
“There is need for my staff both medical officers and paramedical to educate their patients on what they should do as well as to keep their medical records very confidential. What I am talking about is called patients center care.
“The police medical services are put in place to meet the medical needs of all officers and their immediate families. I want police officers to get the kind of healthcare, they deserve as the hospitals belong to them.
“I will embark on tour of the country to make sure that police hospitals are functional and functioning. The force medical service mission is to ensure that each divisional headquarters is capable of giving healthcare service to its personnel, so that they do not have to travel long distances for their medical care. We will ensure every zone has a standard police hospital to take care of the health needs of the geo-political zone.
“Because of the enormous demands on the medical officers, I would like to appeal to the Police Service Commission (PSC), to assist with the recruitment of qualified personnel to the department. We need more hands.
“The unused medical facility at the Coomassic Cantonment, Area II, Garki, Abuja, I promise to seek the approval of the acting Inspector General of Police, IGP Mohammed Adamu, for the usage to help in the community medicine preventive strategy. It is part of the community policing policy thrust.
“I want to leave a legacy that all the medical facilities of the Nigeria Police can compete with all standard first-class hospitals in the country. I want medical service that will stand on its own. I am grateful for the houseman ship at the Falomo Police Hospital, Lagos, in collaboration with the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).
“Police officers should desist from patronising quacks each time they have health challenge. They should create time to attend to their health needs. They should not patronise quacks. They lack adequate knowledge of medical services. They pose danger to the society.
“Glaucoma is the commonest cause of irreversible blindness worldwide with over 70million people estimated to be affected. In Nigeria about 5.2 per cent to 6.9 per cent (1.8 million) of people over 40 years of age are suffering from Glaucoma.”