TIME TO APPRECIATE NIGERIAN 

GOVERNMENT HOSPITALS.

I had my first two kids in a notorious private hospital (on Adeniyi Jones,Ikeja)-where even though you paid through your nose,you had to deal with ignorant,arrogant and saucy medical workers. 

In February this year,my second son took ill and we opted for General hospital Ikeja-My son received very good treatment from those 'government' doctors,made a full recovery and at the end of almost 7 days in hospital,his medical bill was roughly N1,500-but we did buy our own drugs from the hospital at subsidized rates. 

While at General hospital Ikeja,we met lots and lots of patients that were referred from the almighty St Nicolas'es and co.

Last week,when (my) madam became ready for our third kid,we opted for LUTH,another government hospital-we got there at mid night, YET the services we received from (again) those government doctors was out of this world,spiced up with professionalism,humanity and genuine show of concern. 

The amazing thing I observed in both cases (Ikeja & LUTH) was that these government doctors treat all patients the same way regardless of their status. I also witnessed some 'very poor' patients frustrate the living day lights out of these government doctors,yet they persevered and still gave their all.

Am I saying that the Nigerian health sector has improved? NO....We still experienced power failure a few times, though the standby generator came on in less than 5 mins.

And also,once you've been discharged from these government hospitals,the clearance process can be compared to a gym-class.

My conclusion is that government hospitals tend to have the best doctors and medical staff,what they lack is adequate funds and infrastructure to manage the bulk masses of sick Nigerians that troop there regularly-trust me,there are lots of sick Nigerians.

Private hospitals are better at providing and managing infrastructures/equipments but (many times) they lack genuine personnel that can provide good, professional, compassionate service...and of course they are awfully expensive. Some Nigerian private hospitals can actually employ former bank secretaries as nurses and midwives without adequate background checks on their qualifications.

Whenever we criticize the Nigerian government as it relates to the health sector,let us not portray it to be that hopeless...it really isn't, I can testify. But,yes,a lot still needs to be done.