By Dr James Bwala
The administration of a large teaching hospital is a complex responsibility. Beyond providing medical treatment, a hospital must coordinate hundreds of employees, respond to patients and their relatives, manage public resources, and ensure that its decisions are fair, transparent, and accountable. In such an environment, complaints and disagreements are unavoidable. However, when complaints are ignored, delayed, or handled unfairly, they can damage public confidence and weaken the quality of healthcare delivery. For this reason, the proposed partnership between the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) and the Public Complaints Commission (PCC), Borno State, is both timely and necessary.
The Chief Medical Director of UMTH, Professor Faruk Buba, has expressed the hospital’s willingness to partner with the PCC in promoting positive administrative justice. His position reflects an important understanding that effective healthcare administration is not limited to medical excellence. It also depends on fairness, responsible leadership, respect for rights, and the availability of reliable mechanisms through which staff and patients can seek redress. As an institution established by the Federal Government to address administrative injustice, the PCC occupies a strategic position in helping organisations improve their systems and resolve complaints constructively.
Professor Faruk said, “At UMTH, our mandate goes beyond providing tertiary healthcare, medical training, and cutting-edge research. As a premier referral centre serving millions of citizens—including vulnerable populations and communities recovering from years of humanitarian challenges—we view patient satisfaction, fairness, and respect for human dignity as the cornerstones of our clinical and administrative operations.
“We recognise the vital statutory role of the Public Complaints Commission as Nigeria’s Ombudsman. Your mandate to investigate administrative injustices, mediate grievances, and ensure that public institutions remain responsive to the citizens they serve aligns directly with our internal quality assurance goals. Rather than viewing oversight bodies with apprehension, UMTH sees the Commission as a strategic partner in helping us identify blind spots, improve service delivery, and strengthen public trust.”
UMTH is one of the most important healthcare institutions in northeastern Nigeria. With 1,605 beds and more than 12 centres of excellence, it provides a wide range of specialised services to the people of Borno State, Nigeria, and neighbouring communities. Its size and importance make the need for sound administration even more urgent. A partnership with the PCC would help the hospital strengthen its internal processes, build public trust, and create a more responsive system for resolving grievances.
“To ensure that grievances from both patients and staff are addressed promptly before they escalate, UMTH maintains an active SERVICOM and Complaints/Grievance Mechanism, alongside dedicated Patient Relations Officers and clinical audit committees. However, in a high-volume tertiary hospital environment, operational pressures and communication gaps can occasionally arise. Where concerns are brought to the attention of your Commission, I assure you of Management’s full cooperation, transparency, and readiness to work with your office toward fair, objective, and timely resolutions.
“Honourable Commissioner, as we continue to expand our specialised clinical services and modernise our healthcare infrastructure, we welcome continuous engagement with the Public Complaints Commission. We are open to establishing a dedicated focal desk or liaison channel between UMTH and your office to fast-track the review of public enquiries, staff welfare matters, and patient feedback. “Professor Faruk explained.
Administrative justice means that decisions affecting individuals are made fairly, lawfully, transparently, and without discrimination. It requires institutions to provide people with an opportunity to be heard, to explain decisions, and to correct mistakes when they occur. In a hospital, administrative justice may concern issues such as staff welfare, promotion, discipline, deployment, salary matters, patient billing, access to treatment, professional conduct, or the handling of complaints by relatives.
Healthcare institutions are particularly sensitive environments because patients often approach them at moments of fear, pain, uncertainty, and emotional vulnerability. A patient who experiences delay, poor communication, discrimination, or an unexplained charge may feel powerless. Similarly, a member of staff who believes that a disciplinary action or promotion decision was unfair may lose morale and confidence in the institution. If there is no accessible and impartial process for addressing such concerns, dissatisfaction can escalate into conflict, litigation, industrial action, or negative public perception.
The PCC was established to provide an avenue through which members of the public can seek redress for administrative injustice. Its role is especially important because many citizens may not have the financial means, legal knowledge, or confidence to pursue formal court proceedings. By receiving complaints, investigating them, and recommending appropriate solutions, the Commission can help resolve disputes more efficiently and peacefully. It also assists public institutions in identifying weaknesses in their administrative procedures.
Professor Faruk Buba’s description of the PCC as an integral body established by the Federal Government is significant. It indicates that the Commission should not be viewed as an opponent or a threat to institutional authority. Rather, it should be regarded as a partner in good governance. An organisation that welcomes constructive external review demonstrates confidence in its commitment to fairness and accountability. Such openness can improve decision-making and prevent small administrative problems from becoming major crises.
The proposed partnership offers several advantages to UMTH. First, it can improve the hospital’s complaint-handling system. A clear and coordinated process would enable patients, relatives, and staff to know where and how to submit complaints. It would also ensure that complaints are properly documented, acknowledged, investigated, and resolved within reasonable time limits. Many disputes become more serious because complainants feel ignored. A system that provides timely communication can prevent frustration and restore confidence, even where the final decision does not fully favour the complainant.
Second, the partnership can strengthen the capacity of hospital administrators. The PCC can provide training on administrative justice, conflict resolution, human rights, ethical conduct, record keeping, and public service procedures. Such training would equip managers and staff with the knowledge required to make fair decisions and communicate effectively. It would also encourage administrators to distinguish between legitimate complaints, misunderstandings, professional disagreements, and cases requiring disciplinary action or referral to another authority.
Third, collaboration with the PCC can promote fairness for hospital employees. UMTH depends on doctors, nurses, pharmacists, laboratory scientists, technologists, administrators, cleaners, security personnel, and many other workers. Their responsibilities differ, but each deserves to be treated with dignity and impartiality. A fair administrative structure can improve staff morale by ensuring that promotions, transfers, disciplinary measures, and welfare decisions are based on clear rules rather than favouritism or arbitrary judgement. When workers trust the system, they are more likely to be committed to their duties and cooperate with management.
Fourth, the partnership can protect the rights and interests of patients. A patient-centred hospital must do more than offer treatment; it must also ensure respectful communication, confidentiality, non-discrimination, and reasonable access to services. Patients should be able to report poor treatment, unexplained delays, billing disputes, or other administrative difficulties without fear of retaliation. An effective complaint mechanism can reveal recurring problems and help management improve the patient experience.
The partnership would also support institutional learning. Complaints should not be treated only as accusations to be defended against. They can provide valuable information about weaknesses in policies, communication, infrastructure, or staff behaviour. If several patients complain about delays in a particular unit, management can investigate the cause and make improvements. If staff repeatedly raise concerns about a procedure, administrators can review whether the policy is clear, practical, and consistently applied. In this way, complaint resolution becomes a tool for continuous improvement.
Given UMTH’s size, as explained by Professor Faruk, a well-designed partnership should involve more than occasional meetings. The hospital and the PCC could establish a formal framework outlining their respective responsibilities. This framework might include a liaison office or designated focal persons, regular consultations, referral procedures, staff training, public awareness programmes, and periodic reviews of unresolved complaints. The hospital could also strengthen its internal complaints and patient-relations units while ensuring that serious or unresolved matters are referred appropriately to the PCC.
Accessibility should be a central principle. Complaint channels should be available to individuals with different levels of education, language ability, physical capacity, and technological access. Patients and staff should be able to submit complaints in person, in writing, by telephone, or through approved digital platforms. Information about these channels should be displayed clearly throughout the hospital. Where necessary, assistance should be provided to individuals who cannot write or who have difficulty understanding the process.
Confidentiality and protection from retaliation are equally important. People will not report administrative injustice if they fear punishment, victimisation, or poor treatment. The hospital and the PCC should therefore develop safeguards for complainants and witnesses. Personal information must be handled responsibly, and investigations should be conducted with fairness to all parties. Protecting complainants does not mean automatically accepting every allegation; it means ensuring that people can raise genuine concerns without intimidation.
The success of the partnership will also depend on timely action. A complaints system that merely receives petitions without resolving them will not achieve its purpose. Clear timelines should be established for acknowledging complaints, conducting investigations, communicating decisions, and implementing recommendations. Where a matter requires additional time, the complainant should be informed of the reason for the delay. Transparency in the process is essential for maintaining trust.
It is also necessary to clarify that administrative justice is not intended to weaken the authority of hospital management. On the contrary, it strengthens legitimate authority. Administrators who make decisions according to fair procedures are more likely to earn respect and cooperation. Accountability does not prevent leadership; it makes leadership more credible. A partnership with the PCC would therefore help UMTH balance institutional discipline with the rights of individuals.
There may be challenges. Some officials may resist external review because they misunderstand it as interference. Others may fear that acknowledging complaints will damage the reputation of the hospital. These concerns should be addressed through education and a clear understanding of the partnership’s purpose. The goal is not to embarrass UMTH but to help it prevent injustice, correct mistakes, and improve its services. In fact, an institution that responds openly to complaints may enjoy a stronger reputation than one that attempts to conceal problems.
Resource limitations may also affect the implementation of the partnership. Complaint offices require trained personnel, communication tools, record systems, and adequate funding. However, the cost of preventing and resolving administrative disputes is generally lower than the cost of prolonged conflict, litigation, industrial unrest, or loss of public trust. The partnership can be developed gradually, beginning with practical measures such as focal persons, training programmes, standard complaint forms, and regular coordination meetings.
The proposed collaboration is particularly important at a time when public institutions are expected to demonstrate accountability and responsiveness. Citizens increasingly demand explanations for decisions that affect their welfare. Hospitals, as institutions that serve the public directly, must respond to this expectation. UMTH’s willingness to work with the PCC presents an opportunity to set an example for other hospitals and public institutions in Borno State.
The partnership may also contribute to the hospital’s goal of becoming a new and better-administered institution. Administrative reform is not achieved only through new buildings, equipment, or medical technology. It also requires systems that respect people, resolve problems, and promote ethical conduct. The quality of administration influences every aspect of hospital performance, including staff productivity, patient satisfaction, resource management, and public confidence. Therefore, the proposed partnership between the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital and the Public Complaints Commission, Borno State, deserves strong support.
Bwala, PhD, writes from Maiduguri
About the Author
