The State House Medical Centre (SHMC) is the “specialist” hospital located inside the Presidency. Its primary function is to provide “world-class” medical care to the families of the President, Vice President, senior Government officials and staff working at the Presidency. This facility may also be used to serve foreign heads of state and dignitaries in case of emergencies.
It can be recalled that Hajiya Aisha Buhari, the wife of His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, not long ago made very public allegations about the poor conditions of service at the SHMC. This leaked document actually vindicates her.
Below is summary of an 11 points official complaint letter, written on 3/10/2017, by the SHMC Medical Director, to the President’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari. This complaint letter exposes corruption, incompetence and near criminal negligence on the part of both Abba Kyari and the Permanent Secretary, Jalal Arabi. We also attached for your review, some relevant documents leaked with the complaint letter. You be the judge!
SUMMARY OF THE COMPLAINT LETTER
1. The SHMC has faced several challenges procuring drugs and consumables since 2016. The SHMC Director has made several complaints of this situation on numerous occasions.
2. In 2016, a whopping N3,890,629,221 (N3.8 billion) was approved for the SHMC. However, only N25,983,620 was spent for purchasing drugs. See attached Appendix A & B.
3. In 2017, the sum of N290,455,312 was approved for purchasing drugs and consumables for the SHMC. However, only N14,786,736 was spent on drugs and N15,000,00 was spent on consumables. Not a single Kobo was spent on capital expenditure.
4. Drugs and consumables are purchased on quarterly basis (3 monthly basis). However, no drugs and consumables were purchased in the first and second quarters (6 months) of 2017. This is why STOP GAP procurement method (emergency purchase) was used to purchase N14,786,736 of drugs and N15,000,00 of consumables.
5. Due to persistent shortages at the SHMC, another STOP GAP request was made on 5/7/2017, no response was received by the MD as of the time of filing this report on 3/10/2017.
6. In August 2017, the 3rd quarter request for drugs and consumables were submitted, but no response was received by the MD as of the time of filing this report on 3/10/2017.
7. The SHMC attends to about 800 patient visits per week (3,200 per month), yet it is forced to work on a stringent budget of N1,000,000 per month.
8. Despite the stringent budget, lack of medicines and consumables, the SHMC provides a 24/7 service to its patients.
9. Due to bureaucracy underpinned by corruption, the SHMC is currently not benefiting from the financial contributions made by its insured patients through the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
10. The SHMC Director wrote complaint letters on several occasions, to flag the diabolical condition of the hospital. Letters were written on 13/11/2015 to the Chief of Staff, on 18/4/2016 to the Permanent Secretary, and on 22/08/2016 to His Excellency the President, but to no avail.
11. The Philip Duo X-Ray machine at the SHMC has not been functioning for over 9 months. In April 2017, a submission was made by El-Hanan Ventures to fix the X-ray machine. Approval was only granted on 28/8/2017 by representative of the Permanent Secretary. See attached Appendix K.
Fellow compatriots, we still believe in the integrity of President Muhammadu Buhari to lead us to the promised land. We, however, recognise that Buhari alone cannot win this war against corruption.
Therefore, we promise to keep exposing corruption and the dangerous cabal at the Presidency, until His Excellency takes the bull by the horns and does the needful. Make no mistake about it, our approach to war against corruption is a fearless and holistic one. We start from the top, while meticulously working our way to the bottom.
Finally, if the gospel truth must be told, the millions of Nigerian masses who for the first time in our history put aside their religious, tribal, political and other superficial differences/prejudices to vote President Muhammadu Buhari into power, expect and deserve better.
May God save Nigeria and Nigerians. Amen.
Dr. Idris Ahmed.
www.cupstv.com
17/10/2017.