According to the State House Medical Centre, a lack of qualified health information officers is making it difficult for its medical records department to function at full capacity.

As per the centre, the limited number of staff members are overworked in multiple wards and clinics. Patients now have to wait longer to be seen, and the practice of filing patient records incorrectly is becoming more common.

These problems are some of the ones that are mentioned in the most recent State House annual report that our correspondent was able to obtain.

The report notes, “Due to a shortage of trained officers (Health Information Officers), one trained officer is posted to cover three clinics and has two or more job schedules. As a result, the department is not able to function to its full capacity.”

Patient wait times have grown as a result, and some professional tasks like data reporting are neglected.

It also mentions that staff members posted from the administrative department did not receive formal training in handling records, which led to an increase in patient record misfiling.

“They can only be assigned to file and retrieve; professional duties are reserved for professionals, as they were posted to supplement the department’s labour. This has led to increasing misfiling of patient records,” the report added.

It was originally established at Dodan Barracks, Lagos, before being moved to Abuja in 1992 after the General Ibrahim Babaginda regime made the city the seat of government. The State House Medical Centre was founded in 1976 to provide healthcare services for the President, the Vice President, and their families, as well as staff working in the State House and the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The department’s goals include securing patient confidentiality and digitalising health information. Patient records are crucial for proper clinical care and statistical data.

The department only employs sixteen people, which is insufficient given that there are three members of the National Youth Service Corps, five non-professionals, and eight professionals with training in health records.

Only four workers “underwent a one-week training on the Electronic Health Records Management System and the international classification of diseases” in 2023.

The Buhari government provided at least N33.3 billion for the State House’s medical facilities between 2016 and 2022. N455.2 million was allocated for this purpose in 2023.

The money went towards major initiatives like building the presidential wing of the medical facility, which was finished in December 2022, as well as ongoing expenses like buying medications and medical supplies.

N8.35 billion was set aside for the State House Medical Centre, N24.24 billion for the presidential wing, and N308.26 million for general medical bills, according to a budget breakdown.

The medical institution received N1.33 billion from the 2024 budget, which President Bola Tinubu signed into law. Of that amount, N441.68 million was set aside for overhead and N749.69 million for capital projects.

In 2016, the SHMC budget was N4.84 billion. 2017 saw N384.76m set aside for facility operations and medical costs. In 2018 and 2019, N1.08bn and N850.68m, respectively, were allotted. By 2020, this had decreased to N634.14m. The budget plans for 2021, 2022, and 2023 allotted N693.01m, N708.75m, and N455.2m, respectively, for medical costs at the State House Medical Centre.

To address the staffing deficit, the State House was already employing physicians and other qualified workers, according to a senior official with knowledge of SHMC operations.

“What I know for now is that the State House is in the process of recruiting more doctors for its VIP wing and the other clinic, as well as extra professionals for different departments,” the person said, requesting anonymity because he was not permitted to discuss the subject.

Olufunso Adebiyi, the State House’s Permanent Secretary, revealed plans to completely digitise the institution by November 2024. The “Full digitalisation of the entire State House and Lagos State offices and quarters” was given a N10 billion budget in 2024.

On October 8, Adebiyi said that the completion of the computerisation and digitalisation process would improve efficiency, security, and the smooth operation of crucial administrative functions across its seven cost centres during an oversight visit by the House of Representatives’ Committee on Special Duties to Aso Rock Villa.

The State House Medical Centre, Lagos Liaison Office, Office of the Chief of Staff, Office of the Chief Security Officer to the President, State House Operations President, State House Operations Vice President, and State House Headquarters are these cost centres.