Kubwa Hospital Sick, Doctors Turn Back Patients As Others Are Treated On Chairs, Stretchers

It was an unusual sight at the General Hospital located in the satellite town of Kubwa, in the Federal Capital Territory.

Patients crowded at the Accident and Emergency Ward of the hospital with different ailments, at a time of suspected cholera epidemic.

The doctors and nurses busy trying to attend to the emergencies but getting desperate and frustrated by the numbers, and more importantly, lack of bed spaces to accommodate their patients.

The doctors offered their services to the patients on chairs and stretchers while turning back others.

The situation was desperate for many of the patients and the health personnel when THE WHISTLER visited the hospital on Friday, 11th of June 2021.

While some patients were referred to other hospitals, others were made to sit around the lobby of the ward while receiving medication.

At mid-day, the emergency ward was filled with patients at the time our correspondent visited.

THE WHISTLER observed an elderly woman among the patients called Mama Sally, who couldn’t stand on her feet but sat behind a counter where she laid her head for support.

Obviously in some kind of pain, she was given a drip infusion while sitted.

She managed to speak to this website.

According to her, “I have been sitting like this since morning when I was brought in, and I don’t even know what is wrong with me yet.

“I’m tired of sitting down, I would have preferred to lie down but they said there is no empty bed.

“Some people were even asked to go to other hospitals because there is no bed space here.”

Shortly after, a lady was seen wheeled in on a chair and placed on a stretcher which served as a bed.

One of the patients, a middle age male, told our correspondent he had been at the hospital the previous day but was told to go home after initial treatment because there was no bed space.

The patient who still had a bandage on his hand, also confirmed that the ward was filled up with patients the previous day, while some were referred to other hospitals.

“This place is too small, no enough bed space. I was here yesterday and this lobby was filled with people lying down, sitting down.

“Some people were even asked to visit other hospitals,” he said.

Commenting on Mama Sally’s case, he said, “they don’t have enough bed, imagine this is how she will sit here all through this treatment, except someone is discharged.

THE WHISTLER had reported the death of a cholera patient who was asked to be taken to another hospital for lack of bed space at the hospital.

But the patient died while being taken to another hospital.

One of the doctors who pleaded anonymity told THE WHISTLER that such cases have become more regular.

The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Lasisi Muideen, admitted the problem of lack of adequate bed spaces to take-in the increasing number of cases coming to the hospital.

However, he said no doctor or health officer is permitted to refer a patient to another facility without first checking to know the patient’s ailment.

He said: “Referring patients to other hospitals without first checking what is wrong with them, is not acceptable here.

“In this system, nobody should be doing that.”

On expansion of the hospital, the CMD said it is the strategic plan of the government, adding however that it was an issue beyond him.

“Strategic plan for expansion is not a decision to take at my level,” he said.

Kubwa hospital was commissioned in 1990 to offer accident and emergency services, general out patient services, obstetrics and gynaecology, free ANC services specialist and pediatric services among others.

The facility, which is registered under the hospital management board, is currently overwhelmed by the number of patients, and would require an expansion.