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State Of Medical Centres In Nigerian Tertiary Institutions

By Samson Ezea
19 September 2015   |   5:27 am
The recent untimely demise of the electrocuted 300-level first class Accountancy student of University of Lagos Akoka, Miss Oluchi Anekwe who was allegedly rushed to the university medical centre alive has raised questions on the state of medical centre in the Nigerian tertiary institutions.
Oluchi Anekwe, the electrocuted 300 level Unilag student

Oluchi Anekwe, the electrocuted 300 level Unilag student

The recent untimely demise of the electrocuted 300-level first class Accountancy student of University of Lagos Akoka, Miss Oluchi Anekwe who was allegedly rushed to the university medical centre alive has raised questions on the state of medical centre in the Nigerian tertiary institutions.

It was alleged that when the incident occurred on the campus, Oluchi was rushed to the university medical centre where the medical personnel on duty instead of attending to her quickly started asking for identity card.

While Oluchi was not lucky, her younger sister Obianuju who was equally affected by the electrocution survived the accident.

Since the incident occurred, tongues have wagging on why the medical centre personnel treated Oluchi’s case with negligence. Why the question for identity card in an emergency situation like that of Oluchi, instead of providing medical care to first save her life.

Is it a laid down rule that before any student, no matter the situation is attended to in a school medical centre, his or her identity card must be provided? If true, won’t such administrative bottleneck cause Nigerians many lives? Oluchi’s case may have attracted public attention because of the circumstances surrounding it. It is not out of place that there would have been several undisclosed cases where students lost their lives due negligence at their school medical centres.

Investigation reveals that majority of the medical centres in the tertiary institutions are not only underequipped, they are understaffed. That is why some students will easily disclose that they have not used it and may never use it while in school.

Medical centre or clinic is supposed to be a makeshift medical base in the school, which provides firsthand medicare especially in emergency situation.

It is often manned by a few medical personnel because of its size. Serious and complex medical cases are often referred to bigger health institutions after being stabilised at the centre.

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