Joy Aifuobhokan: Lagos Healthcare Lacking Basic Infrastructure, Doctors’ Living Conditions Horrible

Dr. Joy Aifuobhokan, a medical officer, has said that the Healthcare system in Lagos state is grossly lacking in basic infrastructure and tools necessary to help patients.

In an interview with ARISE NEWS on Wednesday, Dr. Joy- a friend of the late Dr Vwaere Diaso, who was killed in an elevator accident which occurred at General Hospital, Odan- said that the healthcare system in Lagos is a system that does not work, which in turn, makes it harder for those who are working in the system. She also said that the death of Dr. Vwaere Diaso was preventable, saying, “Vwaere should still be alive if proper preparation was made.”

Speaking on the inefficiency of the healthcare system, Dr. Joy described it as “the system that is grossly lacking basic infrastructure.” She said, “There are monitors that you put on a patient immediately they come into the emergency and they are supposed to read all of their vitals. When Vwaere got to LASEMS (Lagos State Emergency Medical Services), they put one of those machines on her and up until when she died, it couldn’t read any of her vitals. This is LASEMS of Lagos State General Hospital, and you have not one machine that can completely read the vitals of a patient, and this is everywhere from the casualty to the LASEMS.

“So, patients come in and they look at us young doctors and it looks like, oh they are being wicked, or, why are they not attending to me, and then they go on Twitter (Now X) and then they drag the doctors, oh, they are heartless. We are not heartless. We are working in a system that does not work. How can a carpenter make a table without wood and nail? That’s what the healthcare system in Lagos is. We don’t have the tools to help you… There are doctors who have had HIV, Hepatitis, funny diseases just because they didn’t have the proper kits to protect themselves during emergencies.”

Speaking on the compulsory House Job experience for student doctors, she said, “It’s like the one year of your life that you dread, and I speak for everyone who has worked somewhere. And this is Lagos state which is supposed to be the centre of excellence, we’re supposed to be the prototype state…It was the most depressing year of my life. The conditions of living are horrible.”

Dr. Joy, speaking on the elevator mishap, said that complaints have been made for a long duration of time concerning it, as the consultants and patients had to go about the 10-story hospital using the stairs, as the elevator was not functioning properly. She said, “I started working in HSC in 2021, as far back I have seniors from Babcock University who worked there as early as 2019, and during their time, the lift was not functioning. So, let’s say from 2019 until now, this has been a what, 4, 5 years period of repeated complaints about these same elevators.

“And whenever these complaints were given, we got the response that the right people who can actually make a change were listening to you, but then, I mean, all of these revelations, I mean, this incident has happened, and the responses we are getting back first of all is that, first of all, there is no clear body who is taking responsibility and saying we are directly in charge of the elevator in general hospital HSC, we are finding out that now there was no maintenance contract between the different bodies involved. So, it just feels like we were speaking but people we were speaking to were not getting this complaint, were not digging deep to really focus on who was directly accountable for this elevator.”

Dr. Joy then urged for full accountability and transparency from the government in the prosecution of those responsible for the unfortunate incident.

Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi

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