Doctors, health workers displaced as rainstorm devastates Plateau hospital
Following a rainstorm in the early hours of Friday, the Plateau State Specialists Hospital in Jos, the state capital, has been devastated, leaving doctors and other health officials stranded.
The massive destruction is coming not long after the health facility took delivery of 100 beds and 100 mattresses purchased for patients’ use by the Governor Caleb Mutfwang-led administration
The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Prof Christopher Yilgwan, while confirming the incident to PUNCH Online in Jos on Friday, said the doctors and other health officials affected by the rainstorm had been evacuated to safe locations.
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Yilgwan said, “As we are receiving the good news (purchase of 100 beds and 100 mattresses), we woke up this morning to find out that the whole block where some doctors and house officers are staying has been destroyed by the rainstorm. As we speak, all of them have been stranded and displaced and their properties destroyed.
“But we have informed Governor Caleb Mutfwang and, in his usual magnanimity, has provided a temporary abode for them while we have a comprehensive estimate of the damaged facilities and submit for renovation and I can assure you that all hands are on deck to see that we address the problem.”
The CMD, who described the incident as unfortunate, added that Plateau Hospital caters for more than 60 per cent of the people in town, including those within the lower realm.
He noted that most of the infrastructure and facilities in the hospital, which were built several decades ago had become obsolete and needed to be changed for optimum service delivery
The CMD stated, “We have migrated to an e-hospital system to manage all hospital operations in an electronic manner. That helps us with accurate data to plan appropriately because before now, most of what we do is guesswork. We have also restored the water network in the hospital such that patients don’t have to walk carrying water on their heads. There is a plan to rebuild the hospital to a new specialist hospital.
“Already, architectural designs have been finished and structural designs have also been concluded and we are only waiting for the simulation exercise, and in no distant time, we will reposition the hospital to better serve the people in line with the promise of the present administration.”
