Dr Ebenezer Adekunle Ajayi, the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido Ekiti, (FETHI), has disclosed that the institution offers the cheapest services in Nigeria.
Speaking during the hospital’s end of the year celebrations held on the hospital premises, the CMD said the hospital still had the Increasing presence of indigent patients who could not afford the cost of out-of- pocket medicare expenses to contend with.
According to him, “Despite that we run a tertiary hospital with the least hospital fees among its peers not only in Ekiti State but perhaps in the whole of the Southwest geopolitical region.
“We are working to have a hospital that will discourage continuous medical tourism abroad by the who-is-who in our society. It is achievable because whatever the heart of a man can conceive, it can achieve. We shall get there in a moment,” he stated.
The medical chief, therefore, advocated community-based social health insurance scheme to cater to indigent patients.
“This hospital has been in the forefront in the advocacy for the institution of social health insurance programmes especially the community- based type. The rich must take more than a passing interest in catering for the health of the vulnerable and the poorest of the poor in society.
“For as long as majority of these (indigent) people are not covered by any form of health insurance programme, establishment of funds through contributions from well-meaning individuals, government and non-government organizations, including religious bodies, will be a good way out of this challenge”.
Ajayi said: “Our training programmes have continued to produce excellent results. Students of the School of Nursing presented for the 2018 final examinations of the Nursing and Midwifery Council returned 100 per cent success. It has been similar success stories in our postgraduate medical examinations as well.”
The CMD said the facility was unrelenting in its bid to become the ultimate destination for medical tourists, adding that its expectations as an institution that placed priority on expertise, quality service delivery and patients’ satisfaction was on course.
Ajayi said that FETHI paid attention to improving the quality of healthcare services by making the hospital hospitable for patients and members of staff, Improving the quality and quantity of equipment for service delivery; Investing in building the capacity of members of staff across cadres and professions, and strategically securing services of medical personnel to expand scope in the hospital.
