By George Onmonya Daniel<\/p>\n
Last Monday morning I was involved in a car crash just before the traffic light in front of Rita Lori Hotel, Garki, Abuja. I was bleeding profusely and the driver and the lady sitting in front of the car I was in were critically injured, so some good samaritan stopped by and we were rushed to Garki Hospital because it was close by. I remember the policeman who hopped into the car saying we should go to Asokoro General Hospital. He said something about not liking the way they do their things in Garki Hospital.<\/p>\n
The way they do their thing started immediately we were rushed to the Accident and Emergency unit. The two people who were critically injured were given beds immediately but they were not being treated, they were being asked questions. Who is paying their bills? Who is paying their bills? That was all the nurses and doctors were asking. Who is paying their bills? I sat there feeling dizzy and weak and getting cold. I was losing conciousness and I knew it. I asked a nurse with this strong looking mean face if I could lie down on the last bed in the Emergency room and she said it was ok.<\/p>\n
I felt better as relaxed on the bed. I began to make phone calls. One of the doctors was asking the driver who was half concious who was paying his bills, a nurse came to inject him with pain killer, he couldn\u2019t open his mouth earlier as he was bleeding from the mouth but on seeing the injection spoke for the first time, telling her he doesn\u2019t want to be injected. The doctor screamed that he should be taken away to another hospital. \u201cWho brought him here! Let him go to another place!\u201d<\/p>\n
He was youngman, a little above 35 years perhaps. He wore that arrogance of men in power. I decided to humble him.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoctor, what has the man done that you are screaming he should be taken away? He doesn\u2019t want to be injected, so what? You should be explaining to him why he should be injected. I am a journalist, I can cause you a lot of trouble.\u201d It worked. He calmed down. The arrogance varnished from him face. Everyone was afterward treated with utmost respect. He was even the person who stitched my wound and he really did a great job trying to impress me. I paid N8500 (eight thousand five hundred naira) just to get the cut on my forehead stitched up, N2000 (two thousand naira) for file and they gave some couple of drugs which they charged N4150 (four thousand, one hundred and fifty naira). I left them stitching up the lady sitting in front of the car who wasn\u2019t as lucky as me. She was three months pregnant, her first baby and she almost lost an eye.<\/p>\n
After two days I came for dressing of the wound. I was directed to GOPD. I went to GOPD and saw two ladies there checking files. I told them I was directed here and told them my problem. One of the lady just screamed, \u201cGo and bring your file! Go there!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMadam, what\u2019s the problem. I am the patient here. I am just making an inquiry and I believe that why you are here, to answer me.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked up and saw a well dressed chap, calm, calculated and organised. She uttered apologies when she saw that I was really ready for a scene to embarrass her. \u201cSorry sir.\u201d She kept repeating. Go there, do this, do that. It was as simple as that. I left the hospital to the office without dressing my wound that morning. I had to come back in the evening to do it. I met this nice nurse who even though the dressing room was already closed helped me out.<\/p>\n
I went to the hospital subsequently for dressing and I have come to realize that hospitals in Nigeria don\u2019t train their staff on how to deal with people. A lot of people have complained about doctors in other hospitals and how they deal with patients. Even as I sit waiting for dressing this morning, waiting for over two hours now, the lady by my side is just telling the woman by her side about how she was treated badly by the nurses. \u201cI don\u2019t care about her character as long as I get well.\u201d She told the woman laughing. She was obviously involved in some sort of fire accident. She was seriously burnt but she is recovering.<\/p>\n
I heard Garki Hospital is a private hospital. No matter it is this cost. The bills are quite high. Private hospitals should be trained how to deal with people with respect and dignity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By George Onmonya Daniel Last Monday morning I was involved in a car crash just before the traffic light in front of Rita Lori Hotel, Garki, Abuja. I was bleeding…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n