My Ideal Nigeria

Read the winning essay of the 2022 New Voices Essay Competition.

Jan 13, 2023

The Beauty of Standard Health Care Services in its Actualization.ROFIAT HAMZAT / THE REPUBLIC

It is 2050 and Mrs Fasakin, a businesswoman from Oyo State, is on a business trip to Delta State for a week. Unfortunately, she had a fatal accident on her way, sustaining a head injury which rendered her unconscious. She was rushed to Delta State University Teaching Hospital and was diagnosed with a subarachnoid haemorrhage (bleeding into the brain). She requires urgent surgery to drain the blood in her brain and halt further brain injury.

However, Mrs Fasakin has a serious anaphylactic reaction—a severe, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction—to Suxamethonium, the anaesthetic agent the surgeons would have used to sedate her for the surgery, this could kill her faster than the brain injury and very preventable if the surgeons have the information, but she is unconscious and can’t give the information about her anaphylactic reaction.

Fortunately, the ideal Nigeria runs a Centralized Electronic Health Record System (CEHRS) which can be accessed using the patient’s verifiable identities. The centralized health record system allows information about patients to exist inside one mainframe that is accessible from numerous points. It allows a patient to move between different health facilities and provides potential caregivers with an updated medical history of the patient. With this, Mrs Fasakin was saved from the consequences of having the anaphylactic reaction as her health information was accessed from the electronic health record for the required surgical intervention. Her operation was successful, and she was subsequently transferred to her state for recuperation given the stability of her vitals.

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About the Author

Rofiat Hamzat

is the winner of the 2022 New Voices Essay Competition. She is also a final year medical student of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital.

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My Ideal Nigeria