Consultancy Alternative in Failing Public Health Institutions in Nigeria: A Case Study of Enugu State University Teaching Hospital Parklane Enugu

It is the duty of government to provide essential services to its citizens. Such essential services include provision of healthcare. Public service personnel are saddled with the responsibility of operating the healthcare facilities on a day to day basis as their statutory function. However, the level of services in these healthcare facilities in Nigeria have dwindled so much that a palliative was sought by the government. Consultancy service was the alternative card on the table. The management of some public healthcare institutions in Nigeria with the approval of government has engaged the services of some consultancy firms to help the public servants facilitate effective healthcare services delivery and access to vital hospital management information for the administration of the hospitals. This paper seeks to find out the level of service being rendered in the hospitals in a bid to justify the engagement and use of the consultants. One health facility-Enugu State University Teaching Hospital Parklane Enugu was used as a case study. One hypothesis was formulated and tested using KMO and Bartlett test analysis. With the support of hospital records alongside the result of the hypothesis tested, the research discovered that the engagement of consultants in the hospital improved service delivery there in.