AMSWON Seeks Better Deals For Abandoned Patients

The Association of Medical Social Workers of Nigeria (AMSWON), Lagos State chapter has raised awareness of the plight of patients who seek medical care, particularly those who are unable to offset hospital bills and have been abandoned by their relatives in hospitals.

To address the issue, yesterday, during a courtesy visit to Rutam House corporate headquarters of The Guardian in Lagos, AMSWON Chairman, Osaro Galvin Aikpitanyi, restated the determination of the body to train health workers on managing health emergencies across the state to reduce the number of Nigerians dying from traumas and other illnesses on a daily basis.

He lamented the astronomical cost of medicare which results in the abandonment of indigent patients in hospitals nationwide.

Ahead of its 2022 Socio-Scientific Conference/Training held between August 18 and 19 at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, AMSWON commended the National Assembly for passing the Nigerian Council for Social Work (Establishment) Bill, urging President Muhammadu Buhari to assent to it as a legal framework for the profession.

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AMSWON said the association was focusing more attention on ensuring that indigent persons have access to medical treatment.

The chairman, who works with the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos, said that the association needs philanthropists to sponsor the treatments of underprivileged Nigerians

Dr. Titilayo Tade, the Chairman, Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the forthcoming conference, said the association was interested in mental health patients as well as owing to discrimination against them and urged Nigerians to stop the stigmatisation and show the sufferers love.

Dr. Tade, who is of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Idi-Araba, noted: “We have reconciled mental health patients with their families in different states.”

Temitayo Ajetunmoibi, a member of the LOC member, implored the other state governments to emulate Lagos in the employment of medical social workers for the betterment of the patients.

SOURCE: The Guardian