The management of Kogi State Specialist Hospital (KSSH), Lokoja, has refuted the allegations of exorbitant charges of patients for medical services.
The Chief Medical Director (CMD), Prof. Isah Yahaya Adagiri , told journalists at a press conference in Lokoja, that it was necessary to negate a malicious publication in some sections of the media.
According to him, the publication accused the hospital management of exploiting patients through exhorbitant medical charges, and several other allegations.
Yahaya explained that the hospital had not increased charges of any of its medical services rendered to patients in the last two years.
“The allegation is very untrue because I can confidently tell you that in the last two years we have not increased any of our service charges.
“In Fact there are some charges that still remain the same right from my assumption of duty as the CMD of the hospital about four years ago till date,” he said.
He stressed that the State Government had been very supportive in ensuring that the hospital offered the best of quality medical services to the people at affordable charges.
He noted that aside the over N1 billion investment by the administration of former Governor Yahaya Bello to overhaul infrastructures in the hospital, the state government had given approval to recruit new experienced doctors to replace those that left.
This, he said, effectively discredited the allegations made by the fifth columnists about dearth of medical personnel in the hospital.
Speaking on the allegation that the hospital had suffered low patronage of patients, the CMD said a casual stroll through the facility would prove the claims were untrue.
He said the hospital was always busy and attending to numerous patients who sought medical attention at the facility.
“Kogi State Specialist hospital is run through the internally generated revenue, and it is the most patient-friendly health institution in the state.
“Our services are at par with the Federal Teaching Hospital and in terms of staff welfare, no institution is doing better than we do here.
“We are here to serve the people, and the state government has been supporting the hospital in terms of regular payment of staff salaries, electricity bills, among others,” he said.
He lamented that some staff that were either dismissed or suspended for various offences have constituted themselves into a gang that had been sponsoring false publications against the hospital.
According to him, the malicious writeups are from those desperate and disgruntled people who are bent on removing him as the head of the hospital which they have done to the past CMDs”.
On the issue of paucity of doctors, the CMD stressed that it was a national phenomenon of the ‘japa’ syndrome which was not peculiar to KSSH, but globally.
Yahaya noted that the governor had given the hospital management the go ahead to replace any doctor that exited the service due to braindrain at any point in time.
He disclosed that the hospital management had secured the approval of the governor to employed 14 doctors as replacement for those that left.
The CMD emphasised that the state government had prioritised the welfare of Kogi doctors, adding that their renumeration remained at par with their counterparts at the federal level
“The governor is doing everything possible to make sure that this hospital delivers the best medical services to the citizenry,” he said.