National Ear Care Center, Kaduna: A reservoir of maladministration

The Federal Government in 1999 established the National Ear Care Center in Kaduna to lead in diagnosis and treatment of Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) diseases in the country. The centre has worked in various temporary sites provided by the Kaduna State government before moving to its now permanent site at No. 3 Golf Course Road, Kaduna in 2009. Manpower training and development is one of the mandates of the centre with an accredited school of post-basic ENT Nursing attached to it.
The present Medical Director of the center Dr. Aminu Bakari assumed the helm, inheriting an excellent, functioning medical complex and clinics, a state of the art theatre, standard wards, well equipped and functioning radiology, audiology, laboratory, pharmacy and medical records. A smooth running residency programme for Otorhinolaryngology Consultants has also been going on in accordance with laid down guidelines.
However, things have been allowed to rotten since then.  For a hospital that is situated within Kaduna metropolis, along the ever busy Independence Way, the heart of Kaduna business districts, it is disheartening and dangerous that it is being run in such a dire manner.
The Pharmacy Unit, which is usually the backbone of any hospital, is especially a neglected locale. Perpetual and consistent out of stock syndrome has provided the centre with a distressing reputation. Basic necessities and essential medicines that should be localized and abundant in a specialized Ear, Nose and Throat centre – the only one of its kind in the whole of West Africa – are non-existent. Basically, to bare it all out, essential fluids that are standard in every health institution like Normal Saline and Dextrose Saline can run out of stock for months without any recourse for emergency provision.
This is a centre where the Drug Revolving Fund policy is said to be undertaken, so definitely if drugs are sold out, money is brought in, so where are the funds? This is a centre that has a Drug Procurement Committee tasked with eliminating the scourge of Out-Of-Stock, but yet nothing is seen on the ground to buttress such efforts.
How long would it take for the current administration at National Ear Care Center, Kaduna to sit up to their assigned responsibilities? An ENT emergency is one of the worst emergency cases in the medical line. Is it till a precious life is lost along the way that current groggy eyes will open up?
The Hospital Services Division of the Federal Ministry of Health need to urgently and critically supervise the plight of this centre that is supposed to be the apex in ENT cases in the country and West Africa at large. Current events unfolding at the centre are a time bomb, and if allowed to persist will explode precariously.
It is definitely time for concrete actions to be taken.
Muhammadu Nassarawa