Yaba psychiatric hospital attends to 77,071 patients in 1 year – MD

The Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital Yaba, on Wednesday, said no fewer than 77,071 psychiatric patients were attended to at its various out-patient pharmaceutical service points in 2022.

Disclosing this during the hospital’s presentation of the 2022 Annual Report tagged: “A Day with the Medical Director”, the Medical Director of the Hospital, Dr Olugbenga Owoeye, also said a total of N601.63 million was expended on the purchase of medications, which had been robust and purchased through the competitive tender process within the period under review.

He said the hospital catered for some indigent patients on admission as a total of 24 indigent patients were catered for and medications worth N1.35 million were dispensed to them.

According to him, the hospital lost three out of the 24 indigent patients within the year under review, saying that these were patients who had been with the hospital for decades.

The medical director noted that the hospital witnessed tremendous physical and infrastructural changes in the last one year, which were made possible with funds from the government through the Federal Ministry of Health.

He explained that major developmental projects were facilitated at different stages and times both in the Yaba and Oshodi annexe of the hospital, which had greatly improved the pictorial state and aesthetic value of the hospital as well as health service delivery compared to what it was in the time past.

Owoeye said 210 members of staff were sponsored for local training, while one was sponsored for an international training programme, adding that, the sponsorship covered all the departments in the hospital and they were all targeted at capacity building and better performance on the job.

“The continuous supply of medications to indigent patients without payment/reimbursement is a great burden to the Drug Revolving Fund.

“However, within the year under review, the hospital witnessed tremendous improvement in Human Capacity Building, and physical and infrastructural development.

“Staff promotion and appointment of essential workers were carried out as and when due, capital projects were approved and executed with adherence to due process, issues of industrial relations and complaints were treated with dispatch through a redress mechanism and improvements in funding and finances were pursued with renewed vigour.

“These were made possible basically by the synergy between the Board, Management and staff and are evident in the remarkable and monumental growth the hospital witnessed in the year,” Owoeye said.

On the lookout for 2023, Owoeye listed staff welfare, infrastructural development and electronic medical record as the key areas of concentration.

He noted that inadequate manpower and inadequate overhead releases to the hospital were some of the challenges encountered by the hospital during the period under review.

“I wish to assure you that with prudent management of the available resources, every effort will be made to attend to the welfare of staff. It will be on the front burner of management in 2023.

“By 2023, the hospital electronic medical record will have become fully operational; this will enhance the quality of our services to our patients and also block all possible forms of leakages in the system,” he said.

(Vanguard)