Japa Syndrome: Let Governmnent Take Adequate Measures To Tackle The Menace: CMD

 

 

The Chief Medical Director of Federal Medical Centre , Yenagoa Bayelsa State , James Omietimi has  advised that inorder to reduce the Japa Syndrome, governments at all levels should tackle the incidence of insecurity going on the country, provide adequate equipment and infrastructure and increase the renumeration of the heath workers.

Speaking to the federated correspondents chapel members of NUJ Bayesa State at the weekend in Yenagoa when the group paid a scheduled visit to the hospital, Omietime also lamented the shortage of personnel  at FMC Yenagoa due to Japa Syndrome maintaining that federal government should do well to allow the hospital make some employments to replace the doctors, nurses, lab scientist, physiotherapists among others that have left in search of greener pastures.

He also asked that retirement age for health workers should be increased from sixty to sixty five years while consultants should be allowed to work for up to seventy years.

He disclosed that the hospital  was yet to receive any tangible support from the state government despite the fact that most of the elites in the state asses medical care from the hospital.

 

 The CMD therefore pleaded with the state government under Douye Diri to open doors for partnership with the hospital advising “let it not only be when there is a major problem that the state will come up with support.

 

 

 The CMD assured of better services at the hospital. He encouraged women looking for babies to come for IVF at the hospital disclosing that the hospital now gives the service at a cheaper rate.

He  said “People will always move when they have opportunity for greener pastures and what they believe are better opportunities coupled with the insecurity that we have in the country. Inadequate remuneration is also one of the things that is making them to leave. Government should look at the issue of infrastructures and equipment that people need to work with.

 

"They are leaving in droves on daily basis. The departments are grossly understaffed. People that are working are over worked. In my department, we have only one registrar, a deportment that we used to have like fifteen registrars. Surgery the same thing. Pediatrics we have one. Medicine we have one. The younger Doctors are leaving the country in droves, that is a major problem and we need to replace them and for us to replace them, we need the permission of the federal government before we can replace them.  Manpower shortage is a major problem. Government has put machinery in other for us to replace them but we have not gotten the final clearance.

 

 

“They should also look at increasing the retirement age for health workers. Government has been on this for quite some time.  This has been on the front burner for some time. A lot of health workers can still  give services up to sixty five, seventy. In some countries, they work even up to eighty as long as they can work.  Let them increase the retirement age from sixty to sixty five and for consultants, to seventy. Those are some of the things that are driving health workers to other countries. If they can look at those areas, it will reduce the number of people that are leaving the country for greener pastures.

 

“For now, we are not getting support from the state government but we are friends to the state. Majority of the people that come here are from the state so that is part of the discussion we intend to hold going forward.  The state has supported in the past and I believe that they will still support us. The state government will help because their very senior state functionaries and citizens come to this hospital to asses care. Let us not wait until something terrible happens before state government will support what we are doing.

 

 

“Funding is a major problem. It is not limited to us. Most of the equipment we use in government hospitals like the consumables, a lot of them are imported. We need a lot of money to purchase things that we use here. Another challenge which is not limited to us is the Japa Syndrome. It is a major problem. And the bulk of the people that are leaving are the clinical people that render clinical services. Doctors, nurses, Pharmacists Lab scientists, Physiotherapists.

 

 

 Assuring that very soon patients will not have to struggle to get assistance at the hospital, he said “A time will come when we will be able to digitalize the whole hospital to a point when you come with your card, all we will do is to slut in your card and with that your card, everything about you will appear.

 

“When we get to that stage, anything you need will be brought to your bed side. We hope to digitalize the whole hospital so that services will be connected.