The
social welfare department is one of the oldest units of General Hospital
Lagos, having been created since the inception
of the hospital. The unit is staffed by trained medical social workers.
It operates as a social casework unit. The unit is saddled with seeing to the amelioration
of the situation of patients who may find themselves in circumstances
of hopelessness and at times helplessness. Restoring hope and offering
help to this category of patients is the main job of medical social
services. Such patients include paupers/destitute, the abandoned,
road traffic accident victims and emergency cases whose relatives
could not be immediately reached. Amongst other numerous functions, the
unit also engages itself in tracing the homes of accident victims
and abandoned patients while also repatriating back to the villages
or towns of abandoned or displaced patients in conjunction with the
various states liaison offices. The department also liases with donors, voluntary
or philanthropic agencies or individuals for possible assistance to
the needy patients. In this light, assistance could be rendered in
form of cash donation for specific needy patients or in form of donation
of drugs and medical consumables to be issued to destitute patients
whenever the need arises. The unit also engages in any other miscellaneous duties
directed by the Medical Director. From the foregoing, it would be
noted that the unit is an integral component of the health delivery
system, as it helps in implementing the state policy on health of
a qualitative health service for all irrespective of social status
or religion.
Sometimes, a particular illness might have psychosocial origins; where
circumstances of day-today activities might lead to ill health. Here,
the medical social worker provides counselling as a way of nurturing
the patient back to good health.
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