By Balkis Tijani.
An Ilorin-based lady, identified as Oyiza, has condemned the spate of exploitation and sloppiness witnessed at the General Hospital Ilorin.
According to the mother of a two-year-old daughter who spoke exclusively to an INSIDER reporter yesterday, nurses at the hospital had resorted to selling basic medical supplies like cotton wool, needle syringe, methylated spirit, injection water among others, even when the injection has been paid for.
Mrs Oyiza added that the nurses blamed the government for not supplying them with the items, so they had no choice than to purchase it themselves.
She also lamented how a doctor had written someone else’s name on her daughter’s prescription.
“I took my daughter to the General Hospital to complain about diarrhea. With only one doctor on ground and lots of patients with urgent needs, I patiently waited till it got to my turn.
“They ran some tests and the doctor wrote some prescriptions and directed me to the hospital’s pharmacy where I paid for the drugs as well as items for injection.
“When I got to the out patient department for the nurses to administer the injection to my daughter, the nurse surprisingly started asking for my hand glove, syringe, cotton wool, methylated spirit and water to be mixed with the injection.
“She said the government doesn’t supply them with the items, so they buy it themselves, therefore, anybody coming for injections must either bring the items or buy it from them (nurses).
“She made a list of the items: Cotton wool to be used to wipe my baby’s skin before inserting the needle – 50 naira; A droplet of methylated spirit to be applied on the cotton wool – 50 naira; Hand gloves to be worn by the nurse – 50 naira; Syringe – 50 naira and water to dilute the injection – 50 naira.
“She warned that when I’m coming for the next dose, I should be prepared to pay the same amount, and my daughter was scheduled for three doses of the injection.
“I also noticed that one of the drugs I bought a day before at the hospital’s pharmacy had been unexplainably increased by the same pharmacy just two days later.
“The most shocking was when I noticed that the doctor had mistakenly written someone else’s name (with a different ailment) on my daughter’s prescription. Imagine how disastrous that would have been if I were probably an illiterate and unable to spot it out”, Oyiza queried.