My Local Health Service

_{University of Abuja Teching Hospital}

In my town where I live, there are health centres within. The government owns some while others are private clinics where we attend in case of any health challenge. The distance between my house and the health centre is not to far away from each other as we need not spend much on transport before getting to the clinic.

Also, we have local doctors within which we consult time to time as medical practitioners to seek medical advice and medication when necessary.

Most of the doctors are general practitioners and when they are always available within the neighbourhood, it makes things more convenient and obtainable because they can treat both children and adult with less complicated health issues.

Sometimes, I patronize local Health care centres, because it is cheaper and easier to visit when the need arises.

_{Uni Abuja Dialuysis unite}

In the medical centres where I attend(University of Abuja, Nigeria), sometimes I pay when I visit the Government health centres because it is Government-owned which makes the service’s not expensive. I pay but not too expensive. However, sometimes their services are not always satisfactory in the sense that most of their drugs are not very original, they use less expensive and unbranded drugs (that is they buy their drugs from local pharmaceuticals within the country). Therefore, they give drugs affordable by the Government.

I also attend a private clinic in my area. Though they are more expensive but more careful in treating their patients, as they have it in mind that when their patients are well treated it will boost their patronage. Even it’s more expensive. When there is money, their customer service approach both in relationship, drugs and attention to their patients, theirs is more preferred. I receive treatment from both government and private health centres and are both paid for, but the government and local health centres are cheaper.

Regarding health insurance, it depends on where you work. For example, in my country, it is only those who are employees of health worker that are privileged to enjoy the health insurance. It also depends on one’s grade level, that determines how much health insurance one will enjoy.

Those who have a higher grade level enjoys better health insurance policies while the lower cadres benefit lesser. But for businessmen or self-employed people which I am also in that category, we care for our health services, which is also measured by one’s income level. It is not always easy for business and self-employed people to treat themselves and family members when they are health challenged.

_{Some part in it}

Most of the time, government-owned services are always less expensive than private ones. The private services drive to earn more financially to be able to harness their services e.g. repairs and salary expenses which are incurred while rendering services to their customers, while the government are mostly funded by generated revenues and donors within and externally derived to aid their services.

Following these considerations, government-owned local health centres are supposed to be more adequate and less expensive, but in most times it is not so as a result of corruption in the public centres but the private ones most times are not reliable, adequate but mostly more expensive.

_{Covid19 update}

Talking about covid19 pandemic, it has been a serious situation. Most health workers have been so scared as a result of the circumstances of the covid19 virus. One of the challenges has been in the testing kit. Because it is a new virus most hospitals do not have the test kits, as a result, when the symptoms are noticed, they are mostly reported to the Nigerian centre for disease control (NCDC) who will call for the suspected victims to be brought to their testing or treatment centres or the isolations centres. These protocols have not been easy to manage and the tension and fear that it is a deadly disease that contributed in killing a lot of people who are not able to declare their status as a result of fear and restrictions when they are identified and reported as cases. This has made
Covid19 pandemonium a very serious issue. But both the government and local private health centres has been so concerned and active in creating awareness to the general public and finding measures to manage people during this period.

I have some friends and close relatives who work in both government and private local health centres. They have almost glamour and lamented on the need to harness the activities or services of our local health centres. Most of the health centres are below standard in which people can receive adequate health attention and services. In this case, there is a serious need for the government to work earnestly in the health system generally, to meet up with the challenging demand in the health sector both locally and centrally

More hospital equipment are needed in the health centres to improve their services to people and also the health workers are needed to be cared for to improve their flair for their services. When this is done it will also help to improve the private health centres as they will also try to improve in their services to measure up the gap between them and the government health centres.

During the coronavirus pandemic, most health workers refuse to attend to the patients because the government did not provide efficient and reliable insurance and benefits for their workers which also affected the situation seriously, therefore, their salaries and benefits are required to be improved on. As it is always when benefits are enticing more efforts are put in place to make things more functional.

I am not in the medical field presently but via friends and relatives in that field; I have some ideas about medical services which have helped me earnestly to handle some health issues when they arose.

I do not prefer alternative therapies, though it also depends on the situations at hand. Sometimes some health cases seem to resist orthodox treatment and have been certified curable with therapies it is used as an alternative.

Also, some health cases need extreme actions as to investigations of the case at hand and when there is enough money to carry out the test in the laboratory to know the root cause and ways in which the sickness can be treated then conventional methods can be considered.

I remember sometime in the past. I was having continuous malaria and typhoid fever attack when I treat it. After a little while, it will start up again. At that point, someone referred me to a pharmaceutical research centre. I went there and a lot of tests was carried out as well as the drug that I should use for treatment.
From that period, I became fine that for a long period I never had such attack again. That was fine but the cost of it was very expensive which not most people can afford to spend. This is the reason some people will choose to use the orthodox method for their treatments, and they also get well. But I personally most times prefer the conventional method in getting treated because they normally carry out laboratory investigation before they commence treatment.

I am a Nigerian located in west Africa. Health is wealth indeed. This is a common saying from my side of the world.

Thank you for reading!