NMA fumes over poor state of healthcare in Nigeria

From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

Medical practitioners under the auspices of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), have frowned at the poorly regulated and weak healthcare system in the country.
The lamentation followed a video making the rounds on social media, depicting complications from a surgery purportedly carried out at a government health facility recently.
The Kaduna state branch of the association explained that successive governments of Kaduna State have failed to take appropriate action on similar allegations of quackery and negligence perpetuated by health professionals in both public and private health facilities in the State.
In a text made available to newsmen in Kaduna at the weekend during a press conference, the Chairman of the association, Dr Madaki David Sheyin, however, said that the regulatory role of the government has been weak, thereby allowing health professionals to carry out procedures well beyond the scope of their training and certification.
While addressing the press, Sheyin noted that there has been little or no punishment meted out on erring personnel and facilities to serve as deterrents to others in the government.
Meanwhile, NMA has advised the government and other stakeholders at all levels to intensify sensitization and education of the general public on patient rights and the different composition of the health personnel in both private and public facilities.
The association has equally recommended that the Ministry of Health should immediately issue a statewide circular clearly defining the roles and responsibilities of all cadre of Health Workers in the State and their boundaries with a stern warning to sanction those found wanting.
In its eight-point recommendations, NMA opined that the government should immediately recruit Human Resources for Health in adequate numbers and the right skill mix, and implement the 2023 CONMESS salary scale to help attract the required number needed in the right skill mix.
This is just as the association further recommended that state and local Governments should prioritise the health and well-being of all citizens by ensuring a robust healthcare system in the country.