Resident Doctors Decry the Deplorable Condition of DELSUTH, Call on Delta Assembly to Intervene

By Miracle Enuji

Resident Doctors in the Delta State University Hospital (DELSUTH), Oghara, have embarked on a rescue mission to salvage the deplorable and deteriorating condition currently ravaging the Health Institution.

The prolonged scenario bedeviling the Health establishment was reechoed by Executive Members of the Association of Resident Doctors – Delta State University Teaching Hospital (ARD-DELSUTH) on July 4, 2017 when they paid a courtesy visit to the Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori in his Office at the Assembly Complex, Asaba.

Briefing the Honourable Speaker on the reason for their visit, leader of the delegation and President of the Association, Dr. Ekpekpe Moses said that the Doctors have come to express their congratulations to the New Speaker on his emergence and to bring to the fore, some of the challenges holding sway in the Institution adding that “If we do not bring some of the challenging situations in our health institution to the knowledge of the Delta State House of Assembly, posterity will not judge us right”.

The doctors through a memorandum submitted to the Speaker, appealed for the assistance of the House of Assembly in its oversight function, to urge the State Government to urgently rescue the woeful state of Delta State Teaching Hospital and its residency programme.

Ekpekpe revealed that the residency training programme in DELSUTH is a shadow of itself submitting that “it is disheartening to note that the programme is still rudimentary in the state as most of the necessary requirements are lacking and this has affected DELSUTH and the entire state negatively in several ways”.

He noted that the non-accreditation of most departments in DELSUTH poses a psychological effect on the Institution stating that for a teaching hospital to be fully qualified to train doctors, its various department need to be accredited by the National Post Graduate College and the West Africa Post Graduate College. “The lack of accreditation forces resident doctors to go to other institutions and render services to other States just to get trained which always come at a cost usually higher than what it will cost our institution to get accredited. It is in the best interest of Delta State to pursue accreditation of the various department aggressively as it will create more rooms for us to offer health care services to Deltans,” Ekpekpe stressed.

On the State of the Teaching Hospital, Dr. Ekpekpe lamented that the present state of the institution is a far cry from what DELSUTH used to be and what Deltans desire stating that all staff of DELSUTH have been working extremely hard to ensure that we are able to give semblance of a sane hospital where Deltans can come and not get trapped and die but get an opportunity to survive.

His words, “the operating theatres are under equipped, the accident and emergency theartre, the labour ward theatres are not being utilized due to under equipment and understaffing. Infrastructural decay and unavailability of work equipment are a reality in DELSUTH. There is only one sub-optimal patient monitor shared by the children and adult emergency rooms.”

“Absence of ward cosumables and stationery makes our work cumbersome. Poor power supply to the administrative building and residential quarters poses a security threat to the Doctors to move at night to help Deltans. Limited bed spaces and abandoned projects litter the breadth and length of the Institution especially the trauma centre which has remained at its foundation level for years.

Ekpekpe disclosed that the Hospital currently owes resident doctors more than 30 million naira concluding that “If the Residency programme in DELSUTH is not well planned and not well funded, mediocrity will be the order of the day and a time will come in the future when Delta State will not be able to produce the needed doctors that would take care of our brothers and sisters; the beloved citizens of Delta State.

Speaker Oborevwori expressed his appreciation to the doctors for the courtesy visit noting that he was happy to see young and vibrant youths that want to excel in their medical profession and should be encouraged.

He assured that the House will look into the report and assist either through the budget or other ways as advised by the committee involved. “As soon as we constitute the new House committees, we will refer your memorandum to the appropriate committee to properly look into it and we would do our best.”

Oborevwori appealed to the doctors to exercise patience with the State government stating that the collapsed revenue base of the state due to the destruction of Oil installations and economic recession in the country, is gradually improving with the increase in Crude Oil production. “Once the economy stabilizes, the state government knows what best to do to settle this challenges.”