The human family is located in a changing and unpredictable environment. Unplanned situations makes human social existence a dock and dive situation from man-made or natural disasters, which has become a defining characteristic for the precarious nature of the world. How prepared a people are to contain the realities that await them, functions the level of planning, which actually separates them from the Stone Age era.
The most important emergency management situation is expected to be in the hospitals. An ideal healthy society may not necessarily be how physically fit, but how the system can manage emergency situations. Some health situations do not give notice. The only way to mitigate on incidence of possible fatality or permanent disability is to prepare ahead with equipment and manpower to handle extreme cases.
In Nigeria, people live at the whims of nature and on account of how much knowledge they have about managing themselves to remain healthy. Left for the hospitals, they are largely ill equipped to take care of emergencies. Doctors are well trained, but are not motivated to properly carry on with the job they are trained for. The work environment is bereft of equipment, the doctors are not properly paid, they are indeed not motivated.
No air ambulance, absence of emergency communication codes, no pick up helicopters, absence of ambulance on water ways to assist accident or sick patients at remote areas in need of urgent medical care. Normal ambulances in many hospitals are largely faulty. Most of them are only serving cosmetic value.
Hospitals in Nigeria with “borderline” medial facilities are mostly owned by private individuals. The privately owned hospitals are not only very expensive, the owners are also staff of government hospitals. During emergencies most of the so called well equipped hospitals must employ delay tactics to wait for the “main” doctor to close for the day in his or her government hospital before attending to gravely ill patience. Most times, patience die on account of unnecessary delays. This gory situation may not apply in all privately owned hospitals, but the situation is replete in most of them.
Only last week, a man who lives at Lokoja, Kogi state was experiencing an episode of heart attack. He was rushed by good neighbors to a government owned hospital, but was told they do not have oxygen to stabilize is labored breathing. His doctor met them at the third hospital they went in search of oxygen and he announced to the ‘dying’ man that the only place they can get oxygen was in Abuja.
The man with the heart challenge was extremely lucky to be alive only on account of miracle. His heart palpitation normalized and his breathing restored to normalcy. He may have survived, but he is certainly a mobile corpse if a deadlier situation relapses. He would be fine once he guard against intake of injurious meals, but there are many others who won’t be that fortunate at second chance or knowing how to manage their health at certain age.
It is indeed sad that Nigeria have all it takes to be greater with infrastructural facilities, technologies to be among the envy of the black continent. Corruption has overtime blinded leaders from seeing beyond their heavy bank accounts to provide basic medial needs others, for Nigerians. Once can see reason why some Nigerians are advocating for death penalty for people convicted of corruption.
It is indeed based on gaps, gaffes of previous leadership of the country that Nigeria groans in despair over absence of basic needs. While the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is at the jugular of thieves repatriating stolen national wealth, monies collected should be used judiciously to provide basic needs. The mentality of health services in the area of managing emergencies must change.
Our dear country needs helicopters to fly emergencies from interiors to towns for medical needs, we need emergency communication codes to reach the nearest emergency unit staff. While Federal Government should set the pace for emergency managements, states must be managed to replicate. Health is wealth and the number of emergency patients dying in Nigeria is becoming unacceptable.
The hospitals are not the only ones failing in managing emergencies. While National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is trying its best in managing emergencies, more is expected from them. Eye witness accounts stated that the Dana plane that crashed into the residential buildings in Lagos years back was intact for over twenty minutes before igniting into flames. Sadly, rescue operatives came nearly one hour after the incident.
The flood is here once again. The same threads of occurrence are happening again. Emergency workers know where these natural gaps are but it appears they will wait for the inevitable to happen before actions are taken. Most times our emergency workers are just ‘garbage’ collectors. They pick the corpses and rescue victims if they can. There is hardly a roadmap aimed at preventing future occurrence.
If NEMA can establish and sustain a marshal plan to manage emergencies across flash point areas in the country, and our hospitals are equipped to manage emergency cases, death of Nigerians will be greatly reduced.
Once again, government must muscle in on all factors militating against hitch free life saving sectors of the society. Corruption in the various agencies managing emergencies is a major impediment, which must be fought with all ferocity. The lives of Nigerians hangs on shredding threads on account of poor medical facilities.
The time to spend heavily to achieve healthily is upon us. We must all work to get ourselves equipped and prepared as individuals, community and as a nation to combat disasters to whittle incidences of fatality.
Written by Israel A. Ebije.
ebijeo5@gmail.com,
ebijeisrael@yahoo.com
@israelebije.com
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