Sam Kaye
Medical Director (MD) of the Ultra Modern Police Hospital in Damaturu Prof Bashir Tahir has said that the facility has one of the best Opthalmology departments in North East Nigeria.
He made this declaration while speaking with our reporter who toured the facility in Damaturu recently.
Professor Tahir stated that having met the facility in a near comatose state, he and his management team have been able to create a standard department of Opthalmology plus six others and set them on a very high standard ready to serve residents in the catchment area.
Tahir who spoke through his Director of Administration Mallam Hamza Saleh stated that “our Opthalmology dept is one of the best in the North East of Nigeria and patients can get treatments and even a recommended glasses within an hour because of the State of arts machines available. “
Speaking on the current expansion going on in the 250 bed facility, the MD noted that “We have eye, nose and throat (ENT) and several other consultants coming from the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) alternatively during the week to run routine consultations, ward rounds and even operations in the theatre.”
The MD revealed that recently management spent about N10 million to purchase equipments in the ENT department alone for upgrade adding that they do hope that all the required equipments will be available before the end of this year.
On the on going revitalization of the facility, the MD revealed that they actually met the three theatres in bad shape but have been able to put them into functional use after restructuring to enable routine surgeries to take place easily.
His words: “When we came on board, the hospital was not departmentalized. So we did that and opened the way for more doctors to come in by creating these seven departments for them to work in an organized way. So now we have internal medicine, dental surgery, radiology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Opthalmology, General surgery and ENT all intact.
“All the departments are functional with consultants who man them to the satisfaction of the patients who visit the facility. As a matter of fact, we have two ENT surgeons and three others doing internal medicine who address the weekly needs of the patients in the facility “
The MD revealed that the institution now has about 100 nurses including a police officer who work all round the clock to maintain the comfort of patients in harmony with the others to maintain harmony and stability.
Some of the nurses he noted have specializations ranging from Accident and Emergency, Plastics and burns, Orthopedic, O and G which has contributed immensely to the progress of the facility being reshaped by Prof Bashir in the last two years.
On the standard of the laboratory services in the facility, he posited that they now have six lab scientists in different areas and they do most of their tests internally.
Drug management and dispensation
On drug management and dispensation, the MD revealed that there are about two resident pharmacists and a couple of technicians that assist them on the ground on a daily basis.
However, because of the increase in the patronage of the facility in the Yobe state capital, they now have a solid Public, Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement with a pharmacy company on the supply of drugs which is used to stabilize the hospital.
Supply of drugs the MD noted has ensured that the people in the catchment area are well served and patients are the priority of anything that happens in the facility.
This reporter was informed that the MD doesn’t joke with his patients as such they are always happy to return to the hospital for their well being which is paramount to him.
“Again for drug dispensing, we
have satellite pharmacies in each department so that you get a one stop shop service where you are being treated within the twelve existing wards instead of returning to the big pharmacy for speedy dispensation.” Said the MD.
Projecting into the long term expansion of the facility, the MD stated that It is part of their plan to get most of the major equipments before the employment of any additional professional to man them adding that lapses will be handled when that is done.
For now regardless of the timing of the season, the facility has a solar powered bore hole which supplies water throughout the year so water is never a challenge for in or out patients.
The ultra modern Police hospital Damaturu has a coverage area that includes patients coming from Borno, Yobe, Bauchi, jigawa up to Niger Republic.
It is the second largest hospital in the Yobe state capital next to the Yobe state University teaching hospital.(www.krestnews.com).