Dr Isaac Olubanjo Akerele, is the President of Abuja Resident Doctors (ARD) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). In this interview with Abuja Health Correspondent, Adeola Tukuru, he speaks on the challenges of Nigerian doctors, corruption and mismanagement in the health sector, the recent national budget on Health and other issues. Excerpts:
How will you rate the health sector in the country?
Rating the Health sector has many parts, contrary to opinions of many. The WHO attested to the fact that Nigerian doctors are considered among the best in the world. Everywhere we find Nigerian doctors around the world, they ensure they give their best. In terms of capacity, presently in Saudi Arabia, Dubai and the rest, they are on the increase and the recruitment of more Nigerian doctors is ongoing. However this has not translated to equivalent service within Nigeria and these are the issues that should be of great concern to the Federal government. We have said it again and again about the investment in the health sector, in terms of structures. Why we are where we are today is because there has not been any systematic review of the Health sector in Nigeria, vis-a-vis the services, the requirement, materials and infrastructure. Quality personnel and buildings are mainly in the cities whereas the local government and the rural areas are not equipped. We also realise that the major issue is remuneration. The salary structures which attracts Nigerian doctors abroad should also be looked into. But beyond that, even the infrastructure thing which is the primary health care needs should be the real focus for the people to be able to access.
Health care has been forgotten and destroyed by corruption, mismanagement and lack of attention by the Nigerian government. What we are saying as an association, as a body, is that attention must be paid to the primary health care centre. More of these must be in line and we are happy when we saw the recent budget. We are optimistic that this is the first time that government did a budget placing health in the front burner. That shows that the Nigerian government is concerned and that the health sector must be focused on but beyond budgeting, there must be a total review of the entire system. Primary health care must be given a great attention in this budget and also the secondary health care. For instance, we in the general hospitals are treating patients with Malaria, typhoid and diarrhoea which ought not to be so. They should be treated by community health care centres or primary health care around. They should be equipped and expanded to be able to cater for the people. Also, FCT Administration needs to open more centres and Secondary Health centres so as to avoid overcrowding in hospitals. Environmental Health is no longer in existence. People openly defecate all around, people don’t look at the blocked drainages and they are yet to understand that the impact on our environment is huge on our health. So these are the areas that government should look into. We have the capacity and manpower. Nigerian doctors are qualified to manage hospitals; there is no need for the Nigerian government at any level to recruit foreigners to manage our hospitals. This must be stopped. Nigerian doctors must be given their rightful place. How do you think Nigerian doctors can be trained to meet up with the standard of International doctors around the world?
In terms of training doctors, it starts from the medical school and we have one of the best in the country but beyond that, there must be a review of the curriculum. What are the capacities or needs of the nation? We can’t be adopting the same system, there must be a mandate and blueprint that can be adopted but beyond that, after a doctor is employed, after the first or second degree is given, how much of capability building is given? For instance in the FCT, we wrote a letter to Mr President demanding the establishment of a well motivated critical mass group for traumatic injuries through training. For example, when there are cases of bomb blast, how well prepared are we? How many doctors or medical personnel can be able to respond to this? We need capacity in this area, especially in advance and basic life support and the ability to have quick responders. We are also making a strong appeal to the Federal government, especially the Minister of FCT, that our proposal on capacity building, on disaster management should be taken with seriousness. We want to have at least no fewer than 100 doctors that can be able to respond anywhere, especially when we have crisis, looking at the security challenges in the country. Nigeria deserves the best and we are prepared to do more.
We need the encouragement, we need the support and finances, we need the infrastructure to be in place, we need the motivation to be there and be re-branded. The training in the FCT is not adequate enough and needs to be strengthened; the teachers involved in training need to be encouraged to go for update courses and must be paid for by the Federal government. The services will be brought back to the system and the system will get better. We are encouraged by President Mohammadu Buhari who said that he want to discourage top officials from travelling abroad for medical treatment but we want health sector and infrastructure to be improved so that these top officials will have the courage to get treatment here, otherwise they will be sneaking outside the country. It must have a commensurate measure that will discourage people from travelling abroad.
What are the major challenges of ARD as an association?
The major challenge in FCT is that we have fewer doctors than expected. The population of people is growing everyday and the capacity is not in place. There are a lot of patients filled up and few doctors to attend to them. The same doctors who want to do surgery are the same doctors who want to have a review, so, we are saying the Federal Government should employ more doctors. Again, another challenge is lack of infrastructures. More centres need to be opened. We are also appealing to the government for affordable land. Other professionals have had the privilege to achieve that. We need to have land to accommodate us at a cheaper rate. Some of the doctors we have don’t stay too long in the FCT due to high cost of living. Beyond that, insecurity is growing and attacks on our members have become constant. We are saying enough is enough. Our members need to be protected at work. Recently, some of our members in Nyanya General Hospital were attacked. We are also Nigerians and there must be existing laws that should protect everybody.
How about arrears that are being owed, have you been fully paid?
They are yet to fully pay what is expected and we are asking for advancement of skipping. Skipping must be implemented in the FCT. These are things that can motivate doctors. Skipping has to be effected to encourage our members. We are aware that the present Minister of FCT and his team are the perfect match for FCT and they have been doing well so far and we want to encourage them but the welfare of doctors in the FCT must be looked into thoroughly. We didn’t go on strike because we believe in the commitment of management and we want to see that it is being sustained, we are appealing that skipping of doctors must be approved and payment of arrears must be approved.
Has the association been able to tackle quacks among doctors?
It is expected that Nigerians should be concerned that we have quacks within the practice. We, as a body, have tightened our belt to prevent it. There are doctors practising in the FCDA, we want to know their background, their school and where they finished from. We are collecting their data and this is ongoing. We have prepared ourselves to be whistle blowers and we have gone round to inform our members to quickly alert us so that doctors suspected to be fake going around hospitals can be reported to the appropriate authorities. Our orientation is online and efforts are being made to be more stringent with issuance of license. We are also appealing to Nigerians to report suspected cases to us and we will immediately take actions.
What is your take on the closure of Federal Medical Centre, Owerri?
The closure of FMC, Owerri has a huge impact on the community. We have demonstrated and we are appealing to the government to resolve issues concerning Owerri as fast as possible before its snowballs into a bigger crisis. I know that with the position of Mr President so far, there is an intention to improve quality health in Nigeria and this should not be truncated. What led to that should be properly investigated. Public property should be well managed and to ensure that people have access to adequate health care, we have aligned ourselves as affiliate of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and as individuals. We are opposed to what will exploit the Nigerian Health system.
How does ARD intend to improve Health care delivery to Abuja residents in 2016?
We are showing more commitments and we intend to do more. We are planning to improve ourselves academically and we have the knowledge to give because without knowledge, anything is near to quackery. We are ready to give our best and to support them.
By: Adeola Tukuru
National Mirror News
ABUJA: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
PORTHARCOURT: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
LAGOS: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
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