INTERVIEWBy Itodo Daniel Sule
Lokoja — Dr Chikezie Justice, is the President, Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Lokoja and also Registrar, Family Medicine Department at the hospital. In this interview, he spoke on the challenges doctors face in handling accident victims' cases at the hospital and the need for the federal government to establish a trauma centre in Kogi, amongst others.
There are concerns over the alarming rates of accidents along the Abuja-Lokoja highway, how do you attend to such victims in your hospital?
The rate of accidents across all the roads in Kogi State is quite alarming and as a Nigerian and a medical doctor, I am worried. I'm worried because accidents are not planned.I'm worried because it could be anyone.
Today in Nigeria,
the World Health Organisation (WHO) has put our live's expectancy to be less than 50 years and most of the deaths we have in the country today are avoidable forms of deaths. Largely, about 50-70 percent of mortality rate in Nigeria today followed avoidable deaths with more of them resulting from road accidents.
As a doctor, I have worked in the Accident and Emergency Unit of the Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja as a Casualty Officer and I will speak from that perspective. I will say that the accident rates cutting across all roads in Kogi State, is the highest in Nigeria.
Currently, a consultant Neurosurgeon here in FMC is carrying out a survey on the rate of accidents, type of accident and the type of care received by victims. He is doing a research and the result is expected to be out soon.
The accident rate is high and because of the high rate, medical staff and the hospital itself are usually overwhelmed. These accident victims most times are rescued by officers and men of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and sometimes by men of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF). Sometimes, they are also being brought by spirited Nigerians. They victims are mostly taken to FMC Lokoja and State Specialist Hospital.
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