The University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital in Rivers State has made it mandatory for every patient in the hospital to patronize the food prepared by the hospital.
According to Dr. Baridueh Badon, a medical doctor serving in Germany who raised the alarm, the cost of the food is N2000 per day and was made compulsory for every patient in the hospital.
On his verified X account, Badon, who disclosed that he did his house job in the same hospital 12 years ago, said he was shocked at the decision by the hospital.
He said, “My mum was admitted to the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital for 6 months. It was one of the worst healthcare services I had seen.
I actually did my house job in the same hospital 12 years ago.
“The first shock was compulsory feeding. Every patient is forced to eat hospital food.
“You can’t opt out of it. This food is worse than what people in prison eat.
“The cost was N2000 per day. I could not understand why a hospital would force patients to eat their food.”
Badon went further to disclose that the workforce was overstretched, adding that in some cases, patient relatives were the ones giving IV fluids and drugs to the sick.
He alleged that despite his connections and network as a medical colleague, things were still very difficult for his patient.
“We keep begging the team to review my mother’s case.
“Her surgery was cancelled four times. First, the Registrar didn’t check she was on medication she wasn’t supposed to before surgery.” He alleged.
The Nigerian, Germany-based medical doctor further stated that the second time that the surgery was cancelled was because the nurse told her to eat food on the morning of the operation.
“The third one was because when they wheeled her to the theatre, the NEPA took light.
“The fourth attempt was cancelled because all the medical team members were going to a conference. ” He sarcastically remarked.
Frustrated by the whole act, according to him, he took his mother to a private hospital to get the surgery done and brought her back to the University Teaching Hospital for bed rest and healing.
” If I faced all these, I spent over N6m with all my doctor friends and connections. Imagine what the common patient is going through.
” During my time, the number of mosquitos in that place can carry you to the theatre. Very soon, snakes and rabbits will set IV lines as the height of grass everywhere is alarming.” He lamented.
He expressed disappointment about the dilapidated situation of the medical facilities in Nigeria, calling on the federal government to beam its searchlight on the rot in government hospitals.
