The Chief Medical Director of the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State, Prof. Jesse Otegbayo has called on state governments to strengthen the general hospitals which form the larger part of the secondary tier of healthcare delivery,
Prof. Otegbayo stated this on the background of high patient influx and inadequate personnel prevents that prevent UCH from meeting the demand for high quality and optimum healthcare.
Speaking with reporters in Ibadan, he said the inadequacies of Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and secondary health facilities, including the General Hospitals in many states of the federation has imposed a heavy burden on UCH.
Oyegbayo, spoke at a news conference to herald the activities marking his first 100 days in office, stated, that, the uneven distribution of patients seen by UCH, is not an effective and sustainable approach for improving healthcare delivery in the country.
He said: ”UCH is oversubscribed and overwhelmed. Most of the state governments have neglected the secondary tier of healthcare such that these hospitals have no accreditation needed to train even the lowest cadre of doctors, which are the house officers.
“Low confidence in the quality of care provided by primary and secondary healthcare facilities, have pushed patients to seek general outpatient services from tertiary hospitals. This has effectively overcrowded the hospital and overburdened our workers.
“We are calling on state governments to strengthen the general hospitals which form the larger part of the secondary tier of healthcare delivery,” he said.
Otegbayo said the burden of healthcare delivery need to be shifted from tertiary hospitals to primary and secondary healthcare facilities, to enable doctors in tertiary hospitals focus on their specialties with a reduced workload.
