Medical doctors, on Tuesday, blamed the high rate of quackery in Nigeria’s health sector on lack of control and regulation of alternative medicine practice.

 

Speakers at the 2013 Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the Nigerian Medical Association, Ogun State branch, which held in the state capital, also recommended stiffer legislation to curb the prevalence of unethical practices in healthcare delivery in the country.

 

The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Olaokun Soyinka; the Olu of  Ilaro, Oba Kehinde Olugbenle; the state Commissioner of Police, Ikemefuna Okoye; and the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Femi Olugbile, spoke at the conference.

 

While delivering a lecture on, “Quackery in Healthcare: A Monster too Big to be Tamed?”, Olugbile said the country must demystify alternative medicine in order to break free from quackery in the health sector.

 

He described quackery as ‘a medical practice and advice based on observation and experience in ignorance of scientific findings.’

 

Olugbile noted that traditional medicine, alternative medicine and the unclassified type were often associated with quackery.

 

But he also noted that alternative medicine remained the most problematic “because their qualifications are not standardised and remedies not scientifically verified.”

 

He blamed quackery for the high maternal mortality rate in the country and avoidable deaths arising from teenage pregnancy.

 

“Medicine is one science; there is no alternative. If only we can ensure that a pregnant woman in labour is attended to by a skilled birth attendant, only then can we reduce maternal mortality rate in Nigeria. A quack can also be a doctor who carries a certificate that has gone rusty as a result of not updating his knowledge. Those in this category are often referred to as certificated quacks,” he said.

 

Expressing regret that most medical laws in the country had become outdated, Olugbile stressed the need for stakeholders to review existing legislation and relax the restriction placed on doctors from advertising.

 

Similarly, in his paper titled, “Challenges of security agencies in tackling quackery in healthcare,” Okoye said quackery was prevalent in rural areas due to the failure of a majority of qualified medical practitioners to practise at the grassroots.

 

The police commissioner, who was represented by the Area Commander, Sagamu, Lanre Bankole, added that many Nigerians often patronise quacks as a result of illiteracy, poverty and lack of public awareness on the inherent dangers of such a practice.

 

“Poverty is also a factor; many truly desire effective medical service but they have to patronise quacks because they (quacks) are readily available, easily accessible and cheap,” he said.

 

Okoye, however, pleaded for the cooperation of medical doctors and the regulatory bodies with security agencies in tackling the menace.

 

He added that the NMA must promptly report suspected quacks to the police for necessary actions.

 

“Police cannot know quacks unless those who know inform or report to the police. Quackery is a monster that must not be spared. It must be tackled and killed. Therefore, no stone should be left unturned in addressing the problem,” he said.

 

Oba Olugbenle, in his own contribution, advised medical doctors to be more willing to render their professional services in the rural areas in order to reduce the prevalence of quackery.

 

He also called for proper legislation in the country, adding, “ the nation’s current legal system is so tedious and too cumbersome to effectively deal with quackery.”

 

BY SEGUN OLATUNJI

Punch