It is no news that one major channel through which Foreign Exchange earnings leave Nigeria is medical tourism. A 2013 BusinessDay report revealed that 47% (18,000) of Nigerians, who visited India that year, did so for medical reasons and expended up to N41.6 billion.
It’s also a known fact that many of the facilities in which healthcare is provided in both public and private sectors are steadily suffering from wear and tear.
Experts attribute this trend to inadequate planning of the Integrated Healthcare Facilities Management Model (IHFMM) of most healthcare institutions before construction, adding that a realistic way of guaranteeing the sustainability of any asset is by inputting Facility Management (FM) right from the planning through to the design and eventually through the construction phase.
FM experts say FM can play a major role in ensuring a building delivers tangible benefits to its users, functions to optimum capacity and by extension fulfils its lifecycle.
This week, we highlight indicative signs of a facility that is properly managed.
Availability of modern and functional equipment:
The lack of modern and functional equipment remains one of the biggest threats to the existence of any hospital. In Nigeria, this has been responsible for the constant medical trips by affluent Nigerians or patients in dire need of the right diagnosis.
Rather than just focusing on outright purchase and installation of these life-saving equipment without recourse to their lifecycle management and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with manufacturers, FM in properly managed hospitals can come to the rescue by defining processes around the required SLA, and planned scheduled replacement of the obsolete inventory.
These can help keep existing equipment in good shape and adequately plan for the disposal and replacement of outdated or faulty ones.
Indoor Air Quality:
Anyone who has visited healthcare facilities in the country will admit that indoor air quality is a major challenge. Very often the air which permeates the healthcare environment is odious and capable of infecting otherwise healthy people with new disease(s), due to microbial and fungal growth within the circulating air.
However in properly managed facilities, indoor air quality is properly controlled through standard processes and well maintained air cleaning and ventilation systems including the HVAC system, which often ensures internal climate controls (temperature, humidity, air flow, and air filtering) is expected to be functional at all time considering it helps check fungal and allergens growth that could easily lead to asthma and other health challenges.
Effective Waste Management system:
A common observation in most healthcare institutions is the uncoordinated approach to waste management. Only few properly managed medical institutions can boast of an effective system than manages its solid and liquid wastes.
A well managed Hospital also goes the extra mile in ensuring its medical waste management process which encompasses regular collection; handling, storage, transportation and processing are always implemented.
This, in addition to creating conducive environment, can significantly reduce the transmission and spread of microorganism infections in healthcare facilities.
