House Urges FG to Conduct Customer Service Training for Health Workers

Juliet Akoje in Abuja

The House of Representatives has urged the Federal Ministry of Health to conduct mandatory periodic customer service training in all public hospitals and health facilities in the country.

It also urged the Federal Ministry of Health to develop a system that would track patient’s satisfaction, complaints and outline punitive measures for service failure and incentives for excellent customer care performance.

These resolutions followed the adoption of a motion on the need to retrain workers in public medical facilities in Nigeria by Hon. Chinedu Emeka Martins, at plenary on Wednesday that was presided by the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Ahmed Idris Wase.

Martins noted that Nigeria’s health sector is currently burdened with challenges of funding, lack of facilities, manpower shortages, brain drain, and medical tourism out of the country resulting in the loss of millions of dollars.

“Quality of service delivery is crucial in healthcare management, especially in government hospitals,” he said.

He expressed concern that cases of negligence, obsequiousness, and impoliteness have been reported in government hospitals, leading to loss of confidence in the public hospitals.

Martins said: “The federal government has invested a lot in recent times to restore public confidence in the country’s healthcare system and boost patronage while driving the government’s agenda of fighting diseases and ensuring a healthy workforce.

“Majority of patients prefer to seek medical treatment in privately run clinics and health facilities in preference to government hospitals.”

He stated that the alleged poor customer service delivery, negligence and unnecessary procedural hurdles would further erode public confidence and deplete patronage of the public healthcare system.

“If public healthcare workers across the country are not re-trained on interpersonal skills, time management, and customer relationship management, Nigeria may face further rot in the healthcare sector, which could adversely affect the economy,” he said.

The House, however, mandated its Committee on Healthcare Services to ensure compliance.