Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital May Adopt Public Private-Partnership To Safeguard Multi Million Naira CT Scan Machine
Rabiu Omaku
Fresh facts have emerged that the management of Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital, Lafia may have entered into an agreement with the tertiary hospital under the Public-Private-Partnership to operate the multi-million Naira Computerized Tomography (CT) scan Machine procured by the Government of Nasarawa State.
It was gathered that the agreement which was before the State Governor, Engineer Abdullahi Sule is the only option that would Safeguard the multi-million Naira sophisticated facility from being misused by the operators.
It is estimated that the state of the art equipment worth over three hundred million Naira will be well managed under PPP, The management of DASH according to feelers would go home with ninety percent of all proceeds generated while the PPP managers would go home with ten percent.
Insiders said patients pay money to the tune of N60, 000 to N70, 000 for a CT scan for just scanning in hospitals across the states of the federation.
The competent source says the PPP will present the expertise that would man the facility which will be a total shift from the way and manner radiologist operates sophisticated equipment in Specialist Hospital, Lafia.
A reliable source said one of the latest scanning machines procured recently by the State Government worked for just three months and broke down due to negligence by the handlers.
Onlookers are of the view that the management of Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital should come up with stringent measures to penalize handlers of modern devices while others harps on the need for retraining and employment of experts to avoid spoiling of the scarce facilities.
The ardent question asked is why sophisticated equipment in public hospitals malfunctioning barely three months after installation and the same machine procured and manned by doctors operating their private clinic and hospitals last long even with the high wage given to doctors.
It was gathered that doctors in the Service of DASH are in the habit of diverting patients to their private hospitals, clinic, or laboratory for surgery or diagnosis.
With the surveillance mounted by the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Ikrama Hassan, and the subsequent steps taken to deal with such doctors, the ugly trend persists and this unfolding seriously portends great peril to Internally Generated Revenue in the hospital.
An impeccable source revealed that doctors in DASH especially those in the laboratory have an agreement with selected scanning centers whose machines are pure foreign used producing unclear scanning results.
The spring-up of labs, private clinics, and hospitals in Nasarawa State is a call for concern as some of the private clinics and hospitals charge N3000 for hand cards and new patients while some charge below N2000 for consultation, it was gathered that some of them are selling drugs at an exorbitant rate.
Scanning of pregnant women in private labs is being charged from N2000 to N1500 which was higher than what is obtainable in DASH which is just N500, The CMD of the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital confided that pregnant women are charged only N500.
Ikrama Hassan during an exclusive interview with selected Journalists explained that he is aware of the case of diversion by some doctors referring patients to their private clinics and hospitals.
He said one of the culprits has since been suspended for his nonchalant attitude by diverting patients to his private facility, He further warned those still involving themselves in such habit to desist or they will face the full wrath of the law.
The CMD while reacting to the newly procured CT Scan equipment gave the assurance that the machine will be operational by September 2021, stating that the machine is intact.
“What we are doing as a hospital is that we are conducting surveys of the operation of CT Scan, some teaching hospitals and places like Federal Medical Centre, Keffi are charging N60,000 to N70,000, in our case here in DASH you have to pay like N40,000 and above for ambulance to convey a patient which is almost N110,000.
While reacting to the issues of power supply in the hospital, The Chief Medical Director confirmed that the hospital will not run on diesel for twenty-four hours daily due to the high cost of fuel, He, in addition, opined that the blow-off of the transformer marks the beginning of the trepidation of the hospital.
“To reduce the cost of fuel expenditure, The staff quarters are excused from the power supply in the night, but the other section we rationalize power, Though the only section, that we are careful with them is the Special Care Baby Unit” which said needs constant power supply light twenty-four hours.
