Worst Teaching Hospital In Nigeria: Recent research has shown that some teaching hospitals in Nigeria are in a really bad state.
Sadly, some of these universities are owned by federal and state universities.
The essence of every teaching hospital in Nigeria is to ensure the global standard of training and educating upcoming or future healthcare practitioners.
One of the expected major objectives of these teaching hospitals is to make use of technological development in training practitioners to deliver excellent healthcare services to people living in the country.
Since most teaching hospitals are affiliated with either federal universities or state universities which are owned by federal and state governments respectively, one of the expectations of most patients admitted is to get unique and good health care services.
Also, future healthcare practitioners expect to get standard practical health education and training.
But judging from some teaching hospitals in Nigeria, we can not conclude if that is the expectation in some teaching universities. Some of these teaching hospitals are in very bad condition.
According to the interview between the president of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and PUNCH Newspaper, He said the NMA body has cried out several regarding the bad condition of teaching hospitals especially the State Teaching hospitals in the country.
He also stated that workers and resident doctors are been owed salaries for several months by the state governments.
As a result, it has caused brain drain in these hospitals.
Aside from the condition of these universities, the corruption level in some of these teaching hospitals is so bad that some exceptional medical practitioners have been left with no other option than to leave private hospitals.
In this article, we will discuss the worst teaching hospitals in Nigeria, judging from the condition of infrastructures available in these teaching hospitals, the welfare of its workers and resident doctors, the training environment for future practitioners, and reviews from patients previously/currently admitted in these teaching hospitals.
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Top 10 Worst Teaching Hospitals in Nigeria For Treatment And Internship Program 2024
1. Imo State University Teaching Hospital (IMSTH)
2. Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSTH)
3. Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe
4. Lagos State Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-araba
5. Obafemi Awolowo Teaching Hospital (OAUTH)
6. Enugu State Teaching Hospital (ESUTH)
7. University Of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH)
Let us go into them in detail
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1. Imo State University Teaching Hospital: The Imo State University Teaching Hospital is a state-owned university located in Orlu, Imo state.
The teaching hospital is known for owing its workers and resident doctors’ salaries for months.
According to the National Secretary of NMA in its 63rd annual general conference, Imo State University is one of the universities owing its resident doctors arrear salaries 16 – 26 months.
Aside from that the environment of the teaching hospital is in a poor state.
Review from previous patients is quite not pleasant. As a result, the record of staff leaving the hospital is quite alarming.
2. Benue State University Teaching Hospital: The Benue State University Teaching Hospital is also a state-owned teaching hospital located in Makurdi, the capital city of Benue State.
The teaching hospital is affiliated with Benue State University.
Sadly, the Benue State University was also listed by the secretary of NMA in the 63rd Annual General Meeting as one of the teaching hospitals with resident doctors being owed salaries for 16 -26 months.
In addition, the Benue State Teaching Hospital has made it to the news for different bad reasons which include;
• One-month suspension of all 200 level – 600 level medical students for protesting over poor medical amenities in the University in 2023.
• Protest of Health workers over the violation of Rights by the Chief Medical Director (CMD) in 2018.
• Medical Student Protest against inability to secure accreditation in 2012.
3. Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe: This teaching hospital is located in Gombe state however it is a federal government-owned teaching hospital.
Reviews from previous and current patients admitted to the hospital are nothing to write home about. The Emergency ward is not equipped to standard.
According to the report, there are days allotted for the treatment of certain illnesses, and specialized resident doctors for those illnesses only resume office on those specific days.
It poses a deep question “What if there is an Emergency on days the needed resident doctor isn’t in office. How do they intend to handle such a situation?”.
Resident doctors are also owed arrear salaries, but not as much as Imo state and Benue state teaching hospitals.
Some resident doctors also complained of underpayment and poor medical facilities.
4. Lagos State Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-araba: Years back the Lagos State Teaching Hospital used to be among the best teaching hospitals in Nigeria. However, it hasn’t been the case lately.
The major reason LUTH is making the list is because of the consistent shortage of healthcare workers in the hospital.
According to the President of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), Dr. Dele Abdullahi state that more teaching hospitals in Nigeria might shut down as a result of a shortage of healthcare workers due to the JAPA syndrome.
He also stated that the Lagos State Teaching Hospital is one of the affected hospitals feared to be shut down due to a shortage of resident doctors and other health workers as the hospital has shut down five wards and 150-bed spaces as of 31 December 2023.
However, normal activities are going on in the hospital, and is not so obvious to feel the absence of the shortage of staff and shut down ward.
5. Obafemi Awolowo Teaching Hospital (OAUTH): The Obafemi Awolowo Teaching Hospital is also feared to be shut down due to a shortage of healthcare workers and resident doctors just like the Lagos State Teaching Hospital.
According to the President of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), Dr. Dele Abdullahi, the Behavioral Science/psychiatry section in the Obafemi Awolowo University has been shut down due to the shortage of workers.
6. Enugu State Teaching Hospital (ESUTH): The Enugu State Teaching Hospital workers have cried out to the government severally due to the underpayment of resident doctors in the hospital.
On several occasions, they have embarked on domestic strikes which haven’t yielded any positive responses from the government.
However, there are still complaints of shortage of healthcare workers and poor medical facilities for patients and learning of future healthcare workers.
7. University Of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH): Reviews from the University of Benin Teaching Hospital show that some patients are been ignored and hindered from adequate treatment for their illness.
Healthcare facilities in this teaching hospital are in a really poor state and the welfare of healthcare workers has been neglected.
Aside from that, the corruption level in UBTH is so bad. Review from patients there states that you have to know nurses or healthcare workers in the hospital before you are offered a bed for treatment in the hospital.
Conclusion
These are the top 10 worst teaching hospitals in Nigeria. These universities have trended at some point on the internet for one of the criteria we judged them from in this article.
The NMA body has been calling on the federal and state governments concerning the state of these teaching hospitals and sadly, it’s just been promised from them.
No intentional effort by the government yet to transform these universities.
Workers and Resident doctors in these hospitals have embarked on countless domestic and national strikes.
Many doctors have resorted to seeking better opportunities in other countries which indirectly have affected Nigerians negatively.
Abia State Teaching Hospital used to be on the list in previous years. But since the new administration took over on May 29th, 2023, the Abia State Teaching Hospital has taken a new look, and resident doctors that are have been owed salaries for more than 24 months are currently receiving their payment from the state government as of when due.
To wrap it up, the government needs to step up its game because the number of doctors leaving the country daily is alarming.
If not managed now, the effect might be deeper in future years to come.