free feeding for all categories of patients in government hospitals and clinics within
Maiduguri metropolis, shows that in the last
three weeks, patients in some hospitals and clinics have refused to be discharged or vacate the premises of some of
the health centers.
It was also gathered that some nurses and medical doctors have demanded the committee on free feeding to enlist them
amongst beneficiaries of free meals being served patients in
their hospitals and clinics while relations and parents of most
of the patients on bed in some hospitals have also made same appeal.
The Chairman of the
committee, Hajiya Fati Dori in an interview with newsmen in her office in Maiduguri confirmed that several hospital
staff and relations of patients in some hospitals have
approached the members of the committee demanding for the free food being served patients on the directive of the State Governor, Kashim
Shettima.
She also said that on several occasions, the committee had received complaints from some
hospital staff that patients were delaying their treatment because of the type of food being served at the hospitals daily by the committee.
"In the morning, tea with milk and bournvita, chicken, snacks and fried yam are being
served, while in the afternoon spaghetti, rice, beans, stew, liver and meat are being
served and in the evening, semovita, rice, flour and meat, among others are served",
Hajiya Dori said.
The committee chairman further said that efforts were being made for the continuity
of the programme as plans were also underway for the
establishment of an office accommodation for the committee as well as converting the high powered committee into a board to make their work more effective.
She said the committee had received several appeals from the public to extend the free feeding to other hospitals and clinics outside the state capital.
Fati disclosed that the
committee started with 110 patients, but now had in its record 450 patients being served with free 3 square meals daily.
Commenting on the gesture, one Hajiya Yagana Mustapha, a
house wife living in Bulunkutu Kasuwa Maiduguri, who was on
bed at the Mohammed Shuwa Ultra Modern Hospital GRA Maiduguri for 3 days, for blood
transfusion, said she enjoyed her stay at the hospital despite her illness.
She said, "I am highly
impressed with the manner I was treated at the hospital during my illness. The nurses were nice. The medical doctors were humble and caring. The free food served me and my
children that were with me was impressive, as we were served standard and balanced diet that we cannot even afford at home.
"Even my daughter can
confess to you that we enjoyed our stay and at times we don't even eat the food that my husband used to bring for us from the house, because the free food they served us at the
hospital in the morning,
afternoon and evening can't be compared with what most people eat at home".
