National Hospital Abuja has said it has upgraded to a 500-bed hospital with its new 50 bed-space cancer centre.
The chief medical director of the hospital, Dr, Jaf Monoh, stated this in Abuja during a press briefing on the new developments in the hospital and his award for SERVICOM Compliance, by the national coordinator, SERVICOM (Presidency), Mrs Nnena Akajemele, who said the award was given in recognition of the key contribution and effort of the CMD towards sustained service improvement in the hospital.
Momoh said the new cancer centre would enable the hospital to move cancer patients to the same environment, unlike before when the patients were sharing the general wards with other patients.
He said, "We have about 50 beds in the new cancer centre which will be open soon. So we are just distributing our staff to be able to open it up soon. In the entire hospital, we have 450 bed space, so currently, cancer patients stay in the general wards but now we will be able to move them into the same environment, and we have all kinds of beds, in the new ward, including general beds, four bedded ward, VIP ward, two bedded and single bedded ward."
The CMD also said the hospital was involved in making theatre patient friendly, saying "We have upgraded the children theatre to standard, it took us about six months arranging with the NGO that partnered us on this, to make sure that there are two theatres and a recovery room.
"We now have two theatre suits specifically designed and equipped for children which was done in collaboration with an NGO in the UK.
The intention was to make it brand new and children friendly so that when a child enters, he/she is not frightened because as you are entering through the corridor, it looks like a school environment and that makes the child relax. Instead of crying, the child will be feeling at home looking at the colours involved in those decorations in the theatre suit."
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Speaking further, Momoh said 60 per cent of the hospital's drug dispenses was to health insurance patients which according to him, is a lot of challenge for the hospital due low tariff and non-immediate reimbursement.
However, he said the tariff and reimbursement issues might be linked to insufficient funds in the National Health Insurance System (NHIS) while expressing hope that since health insurance has been made mandatory, it is going to create robust funding and no hospital will have an excuse not to upgrade their standard.
On the award given to him by SERVICOM, Momoh said "I dedicate this to all the staff of the national hospital, their responses have been fantastic."
