Communique of the 37th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of The Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria (AGPMPN) Held at the International Conference Hall of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) Ondo State, Saturday, 21/03/2015

 

The meeting held after a successful International Scientific Conference and Products Exhibition that showcased the enviable gains in Mother and Child healthcare in Ondo State, It also drew epic lectures from distinguished resource' persons including the eminent Cardiothoracic Surgeon and former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Dr. Femi Thomas; the Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), Dr. Abdulmumuni A Ibrahim who gave the ANDEM EWA Lecture for 2015; the cerebral Professor of Pharmacology and a former National Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Maurice Iwu; the Paramount Ruler of the Ondo Kingdom and a distinguished medical practitioner, HRM Oba Dr. Adeslrnbo Kiladejo, Jilo III, CFR; the Chief of Staff to the Ondo State Government, Dr. Kola Ademujimi; the Hon. Com. of Health, Dr. Dayo Adeyanju; Barr. Eyitayo Jegede, the Ondo State Attorney General and Com. for Justice and a host of others.

 

The theme of the Conference was "Mother and Child Health, Ondo Experience". It attracted private medical doctors from all the 36 states of the country and Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. We had the personal involvement and support of the Executive

 

Governor of Ondo state, His Excellency, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko. He was honoured with the award of Recognition of Excellence.

 

The well attended congress elaborately deliberated on the challenges of the health sector in Nigeria, how this relates to the economy, politics, security and global imperatives.

 

After an exhaustive session, the group rose with the following resolutions:

 

MOTHER AND CHILD HEALTH IN ONDO STATE:

 

It applauded the great achievements of the Ondo State Government in its innovative and exceptional successes on mother and child health care, a fit that has equally borne positively on the Millennium Development Goals indices especially on mother and child health. It’s indeed a ray of hope not just for the Nigerian Health Sector but the entire Africa.

 

NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE SCHEME:

 It commended the Federal Government for the bold initiatives it was taking to shore up the enrollee base of the scheme by the Public Primary Schools Health Insurance Program (PPSHIP), the Tertiary Institutions Social Health Insurance Plan and more importantly, the determination to achieve Universal Health Coverage. It reiterated the need to increase the insured population as the critical factor for a successful health  insurance operation. It urged the NHIS not to rest on its oars until the prescribed critical minimum of five thousand (5,000) enrollees per provider in the Nigerian situation was met, noting that over 90% of private providers in the scheme have less than 10% of the requisite enrollee need, thus leading to untold hardship and frustration to such players.

It applauded the proposed exclusion of Teaching Hospitals and other Tertiary

Health institutions in the scheme, from treating PRIMARY CASES.

 

ENHANCEMENT OF PRIVATE PRACTICE:

The AGM maintained that the only path to our national health growth remains the development of an internationally competitive health infrastructure and manpower based on people oriented health policies such as:

 

            (a)        Health Bank: Provision of soft loan facilities to healthcare providers at single digit interest rate with long moratoria and tenors through the establishment of a Health Bank.

 

            (b)        Erosion of Capital Flight: While upholding the Rights of Nigerians to seek for health care from any part of the world, stringent measures should be put on the arbitrary, often abused and unnecessary or otherwise, ill-guided over-sea medical trips that often end as economic gain to the destinations without the expected corresponding health gain.

 

INCESSANT ROBBERY / KIDNAPPING OF DOCTORS:

Members decried the recent wave of armed robbery and kidnapping all over the country especially in Rivers State. The act of kidnapping doctors was described as sacrilegious knowing fully well that doctors are friends to all. It strongly' enjoined the Government to wake up to its responsibility of providing adequate protection for its citizenry including all the doctors.

 

National Health Act: We are grateful to hear that the Government has sourced out fund for the payment of emergency treatments being given to patients by our members across the country. It's our prayer that this shall be brought to implementation level soon.