Long wait times plague State House Medical Centre amid workforce shortages

The State House Medical Centre has reported difficulties in maintaining optimal operations at its medical records department due to a shortage of trained health information officers.

The annual report of the State House, obtained by our correspondent, revealed that the shortage has stretched the few available personnel across multiple clinics and wards, causing longer patient waiting times and misfiling of records.

“The department is not able to function to its full capacity due to lack of trained personnel,” the report states. “One trained officer is posted to cover three clinics and has two or more job schedules. As a result, patient waiting time has increased, while some other professional jobs like data reporting are left undone.”

The report also highlighted that misfiling of patient records has become more frequent due to the involvement of untrained administrative staff.

“Since they were posted to complement the department’s workforce, filing and retrieving is the only job they can be assigned to do while the professional jobs are left strictly for the professionals. This has led to increased misfiling of patient records,” it added.

Established in 1976, the State House Medical Centre provides healthcare services to the President, Vice President, their families, and staff working at the State House and Presidential Villa, Abuja. Originally located at Dodan Barracks, Lagos, it was moved to Abuja in 1992.

The Health Records Department is tasked with preserving patient records critical to clinical care and statistical data. Its objectives include digitising health information and ensuring patient confidentiality.

Despite its importance, the department currently has only 16 personnel, consisting of eight trained health records professionals, five non-professionals, and three National Youth Service Corps members. In 2023, only four employees attended a one-week training on the International Classification of Diseases and Electronic Health Records Management System.

Between 2016 and 2022, the Buhari administration allocated at least N33.3bn to the State House’s medical infrastructure, with N455.2m designated for the centre in 2023. The funding covered both recurring expenses such as drugs and medical equipment, and capital projects, including the completion of the presidential wing of the medical centre in December 2022.

A budget breakdown shows that N308.26m was allocated for general medical expenses, N8.35bn for the State House Medical Centre, and N24.24bn for the presidential wing. In the 2024 budget, President Bola Tinubu approved N1.33bn for the medical facility, with N441.68m set aside for overheads and N749.69m for capital projects.

A senior official familiar with operations at the medical centre disclosed that recruitment efforts were underway to address the staffing shortfall.

“The State House is in the process of recruiting more doctors for its VIP wing and the other clinic, as well as additional professionals for different departments,” the official, who requested anonymity, said.

Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary of the State House, Olufunso Adebiyi, announced plans to complete the digitalisation of its operations by November 2024. The 2024 budget allocated N10bn for the full digitalisation of the State House and Lagos State offices and quarters.

During an oversight visit by the House of Representatives Committee on Special Duties on October 8, Adebiyi explained that digitalisation would improve efficiency, security, and seamless administrative functions across seven cost centres, including State House Headquarters, Operations of the President and Vice President, the Office of the Chief of Staff, and the State House Medical Centre.