Resident doctors at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja on Thursday said that shortage of doctors was a major challenge affecting healthcare delivery at the teaching hospital.
Dr. Abdusalam Moruf, the President of the Association of Resident Doctors of LASUTH, made the observation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos.
Moruf said: “The last time the hospital employed doctors was in December 2011.
“According to the World Health Organisation, based on the population in any given place, the ratio of doctors to patients is supposed to be one doctor to 6,000 patients per year.”
Moruf told NAN that increase in the number of patients had not been matched with increase in the number of doctors.
“This poses a big challenge to the delivery of healthcare services at the hospital,” he said.
The union president urged the state government to employ more doctors to achieve quality healthcare that would be beneficial to patients.
He said that doctors needed to be trained continuously in order to be updated with new developments in the medical field.
Moruf said: “Apart from the employment of doctors, we need to be trained so that we can match with our counterparts in other parts of the world.
“We should be updated with what goes on around the world and, more importantly, we should be able to deliver quality healthcare services.”
Moruf told NAN that accommodation was also a challenge for resident doctors at the hospital.
According to him, resident doctors are supposed to be residing at the hospital, but this is not the case for most of them.
He said: “A resident doctor is supposed to be living in the hospital.
“In that way, he or she can attend to patients at any given time.
“Here in LASUTH, it is a non-residential programme.
“Most of our members come from outside the hospital to attend to patients.”
Efforts by NAN Correspondent to speak with the management proved abortive.
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