Health Minister Pays Unannounced Visit to FMC Abuja After Viral Video Investigation, Orders Additional Emergency Care Reforms<\/p>\n
Honourable Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako has paid an unannounced assessment visit to the emergency unit of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Abuja<\/p>\n
The visit follows the release of the report of the investigative panel he ordered in response to a viral video that sparked public outrage over poor emergency service delivery at the hospital recently<\/p>\n
Alaba Balogun, Head, Information and Public Relations at the Ministry, stated that the video, widely circulated online, showed an accident victim brought to the hospital by a good Samaritan only to face delays and apathy at the emergency unit.<\/p>\n
During the visit, the Minister engaged directly with frontline medical personnel and the Chief Medical Director at the Emergency ward, asking critical questions about the hospital\u2019s preparedness, infrastructure, and workforce capacity in handling emergencies.<\/p>\n
“You are in the eye of the storm, being responsible for saving lives.” It means that, even if you have done one million things successfully, when you do one wrong, nobody will remember the one million that you have done successfully. So, you have to do it successfully all the time”; Dr. Salako admonished.<\/p>\n
During an interactive session with the Head, Medical Emergency, Dr. Timothy Sama’ila, a consultant neurosurgeon, the Honourable Minister, inquired on corrective measures that had been taken by the hospital management since the incident.<\/p>\n
Responding, Dr. Samaila
\nacknowledged challenges, including limited space in the emergency unit, fluctuating staff numbers on duty, and Abuja\u2019s high patient load.<\/p>\n
The Minister reiterated the need for dilligent implementation of the recommendations of the investigative panel including immediate review of staff strength, calling for an increase in the number of casualty officers per shift from the current two to at least four. He also urged management to ensure that recently recruited health assistants are integrated effectively to support clinical teams, especially in emergency care.<\/p>\n
On infrastructure, Dr. Salako noted improvements in electricity and water supply but flagged specific areas within the emergency wing for urgent upgrades and better organization.<\/p>\n
He emphasized that facility improvement must be ongoing and responsive to patient needs.<\/p>\n
Security and crowd control also came under scrutiny. The hospital management reported collaborations with both private guards and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to secure the emergency area and ensure smooth ambulance access.<\/p>\n
The Minister stressed the need for surveillance systems, citing past incidents where CCTV played a critical role in investigations.<\/p>\n
Dr. Salako also disclosed federal government’s plans to introduce cross-country emergency care training, a pioneering program aimed at unifying and elevating emergency response standards across all public health facilities in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone is watching you now,\u201d he asserted. \u201cUse this opportunity to show the public what capable and compassionate healthcare delivery looks like.\u201d He said<\/p>\n
It was very obvious that the objective of the Honourable Minister’s unannounced visit to the Federal Medical Center Abuja was not taken lightly as it marked a commitment to ensuring that no Nigerian is denied quality emergency care when it matters most.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Health Minister Pays Unannounced Visit to FMC Abuja After Viral Video Investigation, Orders Additional Emergency Care Reforms Honourable Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako has paid an unannounced assessment visit to the emergency unit of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Abuja The visit follows the release of the report […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":147061,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,356,18],"tags":[1736,1734,1733,1735],"class_list":{"0":"post-147057","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"category-health","9":"category-news","10":"tag-dr-timothy-samaila","11":"tag-fmc-abuja","12":"tag-health-minister","13":"tag-viral-video-investigation"},"yoast_head":"\n