The medical director, Federal Medical Center, Jalingo, Dr. Aisha Shehu Adamu, has complained of shortage of doctors and other workers at the hospital, saying it was hindering effective service delivery which many people had mistaken for negligence.
She told newsmen in her office yesterday while answering questions from journalists on accusations by members the public of negligence that the hospital had acute shortage of manpower, including doctors, clinical staff and consultants which most times compelled the management to overwork the available personnel.
Dr. Aisha Adamu also lamented lack of qualified doctors in the state, stating that the FMC management often go to the media to advertise for recruitment of doctors without getting the desired results.
She said most people who patronise the hospital forget the operations of tertiary health institutions and mistake the FMC for primary healthcare service delivery.
She further said activities at tertiary hospitals cannot be compared to that of local healthcare systems which most patients expect when they come to the hospital without going through the necessary procedures.
“We are operating a tertiary hospital, everything here takes advance process, we have people that handle patients, we cannot bounce on patients without the process from one point to the other, many people when they come and observe the process mistake it for negligence.
“We struggle to have an average number of doctors here, still we are always out there advertising for quality doctors but unfortunately there are no doctors, they don’t turn up anytime we advertise.
“Most times the workers we have at hand are overstretched to ensure that patients are adequately attended to.
“We have series of challenges ranging from funding to manpower, we are believing that with our continuous struggle, we will surely come out of some of the challenges,” she said.
