In every every country there are certain social amenities needed in order to boast the rate of survival of people living in the country. example of such amenities is healthcare services. there are a lot of health complications that occur to humans, in order to cater for this need a lot of health care services are setup across the country but the tools and availability of health care services depends on the rate of development and investment in the health sector
As an individual, I have not really had much experience with healthcare centres/hospital/clinic. so many places I'm glad to visit hospital/clinic is not one of them, the smell makes me feel sick. the reason behind my hatred for hospitals is not really clear but I'm sure I hated it before I was born to the extent that I was not born in an hospital or clinic, I was born in a church😅, which I have mentioned in one of my post. So anything that has to do with hospital is never my thing. I remember those days when children will be taken to hospital or clinic for antibacterial injections, I was never a part of it. my parent eventually noticed, so they never forced me to visit hospital for anything and I barely fall sick maybe once or twice in a year, Which is usually cold and kartah or malaria.
My first actual visit in an hospital or clinic was when I got admission into Moshood Abiola polytechnic to undergo my Higher national diploma, I have also shared this experience before in one of my post, it was never listed as part of the requirements because if it was listed I would never have chosen the school. immediately after I was admitted and successful paid my acceptance fee and tuition fee. I was informed about the compulsory medical test that has to be done by every student before proceeding to documentation, I was so pissed, I tried every possible way to make sure I find my way around it even if I had to pay some fees but it didn't work out.
I was left with two choices, either I forfeit my admission or go for the test, knowing very well that forfeiting my admission was not an option, I had no choice but to take the test. The clinic or hospital that will be used was randomly selected among many hospitals and clinics patronised by the institution. fortunately the hospital allocated to me was not far from my street. it is a popular hospital in Abeokuta. It is called mercy group hospital located at panseke, mercy road, Abeokuta.
As I expected, I hated the smell immediately I stepped in, I feel like my sense of smell got paralyzed. I got really cold, people around thought I was sick for real, without knowing I was fine some minutes ago. So one of the nearby nurse directed me to the reception, she kept asking me "are you ok, hope you are good" all I could do is nod to acknowledge her questions. I got to the reception, sat down for awhile to calm my nerves. After I realise I'm calm enough I approached the receptionist, sincerely Speaking she was extremely nice and friendly.
The primary reasons for going there was for medical test, which is in 3 categories according to the form given to me by my academic institution, which is body x-ray, eye test and to check my blood group and genotype. Everything went well apart from the nurse that was instructed to collect my blood sample, that mean nurse poked me with something that looks like a needle without even blinking, it was so painful.
But sincerely, their receptionist was the best I have ever seen, if it were not for her, I would have had a very bad experience but the way she attended to me compared to other health care services she was far better.
It happened few years ago, though I did not directly experience it but I was emotionally traumatized by it. Ever since my mum junior sister died and her husband was not really forthcoming in terms of taking care of his children, my mum took full custody of her sister's children. they have been staying with us ever since then but the older one which is the first born is asthmatic. though as at then we were not aware of it but we knew he had some health challenges, he was not really as strong as the other child, they are just two.
One night few years ago, we were all asleep but he couldn't sleep, he kept walking around the house till eventually he was noticed by mom, she asked him about was going on and he told her that he has difficulties breathing. she tried to calm him down but it kept getting worse. my mom woke my dad by that time we were all awake. My dad suggested we rush him to the hospital since we are not aware of his health status.
He was rushed down to ikorodu general Hospital by my dad,mum and elder brother around 11am, I stayed at home with my younger siblings. I couldn't sleep at night, the next morning around 4am I called them but none of them picked up by then my thoughts were already going beyond ordinary, by 6am I called them again but it was the same. I had no choice but to wait, by 10am they all showed up but my cousin and elder brother was not with them. I asked my Mom what happened that was when she narrated the whole hullabaloo that happened.
Apparently, they arrived at ikorodu general Hospital around 12am, after getting there they discovered he won't be attended to until he is registered, they decided to do that but there was a long queue but could you believe that from 12am till around 3:45am that they eventually got him registered and received a card no one attended to him. my mum said she pleaded and begged but no one answered her they kept on saying the same thing "go and get him registered first". it was the grace of God that kept my cousin alive.
I was so pained, this is not the first time I have held of this till it eventually happened to someone close to me. I know they are a lot of regulations and procedures to follow but I believe that they should prioritise a human life over everything else.
As a result of this I discovered that it is better to patronise the private healthcare sector instead of the government owned healthcare sector. the private healthcare sector have some sort of customer relation compared to the most public sector that has no conscience.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled "healthcare: Good or Nah" in hive learners community.
