The Acting Chief Medical Director of
Jos University Teaching Hospital,
JUTH, Dr. Bupwatda Pokop has debunked the insinuation that citizens are being denied access to medical care in the hospital due to their tribal and religious affiliation, saying the hospital does not discriminate against any person who comes to access health care.
It would be recalled that a newspaper report on Saturday, had alleged that Hausa and Fulani people were denied treatment in JUTH for claiming Plateau State, supporting the allegation with a video making the round on social media.
But the Acting CMD said, there is no such thing as people of all tribes and religions are being attended to, even as he explained that some staff who gave wrong information to some outpatients at the General Out-Patient Department, GOPD has been reprimanded and her view does not represent that of the Management or the federal government.
Dr. Pokop while speaking with journalists in Jos on Saturday, said, “Our attention has been drawn to a report stating how the Hausa and Fulani are denied treatment in our facility for claiming Plateau State and the video making the rounds that one of out staff who was educating patients at the GOPD, claiming that once they put the wrong State of origin that does not match, the system won’t accept it.
“To put the record straight, there is no such a system that denies wrong input of data in JUTH, and JUTH does not discriminate against any patient that comes for health care in our facility based on any affiliation. This is a health institution established by the federal government and is a commonwealth of all citizens. As professionals, we have taken an oath, there is the code of conduct that you are expected to adhere to never to discriminate against any person based on creed, race, or whatever.
“If you go to the wards, you will see Hausa, Fulani, Yoruba, Ibo, and others receiving treatments. The staff seen in that video does not in any way represent the policy of the federal government, the Federal Ministry of Health, or the Management of JUTH. The staff involved is not a health records staff and the staff had been reprimanded.
“What the staff said is not true, it is not the position of JUTH. We are saddled with three core mandates, clinical services, training and education, and research. In research, you need data and in capturing the data, you ask patients when they come. We see people all over the country because we have experts domiciled here in JUTH.”
