Physician Heal Thyself 

 

The attention of JOHESU/AHPA has been drawn to some recent insinuations of the NMA in recent times. The NMA in a most recent call to President Muhammadu Buhari had requested the President to ban all public officers from seeking medical treatment abroad. In a more embarrassing but in tandem with the well known propensities of narcissism of the NMA hierarchy, it sought through a resolution that health regulatory agencies apart from its own Medical and Oental Council of Nigeria (MOCN) should be barred from carrying out statutory duties in hospitals. More bizarre is the NMA threat to en-list police support for this unlawful resolution. After our usual careful appraisal we wish to posit as reflected: 

 

On paper it sounds very rational that public officers who are first and foremost citizens should be compelled to access care services in Nigeria. A cursory and deep evaluation dictates that NMA and its membership are primarily responsible for the underlying reasons why anybody who has an option cannot rely on Nigerian hospital facilities for treatment for numerous reasons. In similar spirit attempts to restrict regulatory functions of health regulatory bodies apart from the MOCN are not defendable for many reasons including but not limited to: 

 

1.  Nigerian doctors especially those in public sector at both State and Federal levels are on strike for an average of six (6) months every year. This negatively impacts on their expertise and skills. Any citizen who therefore has a choice will most likely seek attention in other places to avoid preventable fatality of perpetually absent doctors from their duty post. 

 

2. There are records to prove that some Consultant Doctors do not handle up to five (5) surgical procedures in a three (3) year period. 

This is common place in teaching and specialist hospitals in Nigeria. Generally, consultant doctors work for less than four (4) hours in a day (that is if they bother to show up at all). In the circumstance it is obvious that there are cadres of practitioners in medicine who have refused to optimize their skills and this predispose would be prospective clients to danger. In a bid to respect the dead as African customs demand, we cannot mention specific names though the reality is that instances abound of wrong diagnosis involving notable Nigerians sometimes and these led to fatalities. 

 

 

3.  Nigerian doctors have gained notoriety for training quacks in their facilities. This level of personnel includes pharmacy attendants who are trained to "fill prescriptions", auxiliary nurses to handle "nursing care" and laboratory attendants to carry out Udiagnostic tests". The short cut in training this level of personnel who are quacks in professional callings is a major setback in medicare practice at private sector level. It is not in tandem with global best practices and epitomizes the tragedy which forestalls building capacity in the various healthcare professions in the private sector domain of the health sector. 

 

Indeed one of the major reasons the doctors are scared about regulatory visits from sister regulatory agencies in healthcare is that they realize they are vulnerable to exposure of the unending unethical misconduct in the private facilities which they run. 

 

4.  The NMA communique that advocated that health regulatory bodies should not visit private hospitals was an outright misnomer. A private hospital facility that has full complement of other healthcare practices include pharmacy, laboratory sciences, nursing, physiotherapy and others automatically transcends the regulatory latitude of the MOCN. 

The reason is obvious because there are laws that are profession specific which dictates that regulatory agencies have powers to regulate and control the different health professions in Nigeria.

 

With benefit of hindsight the guild of medical directors (a nascent group of private doctors) indeed challenged the approbation in law of the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) to inspect and register landmark ruling in October 2007 gave a ruling that the PCN by virtue approbation in law to inspect and register all hospital pharmacies in both the public and private sector in Nigeria. Court rulings are sacrosanct because the rule of law mantra still prevails in this clime.

The Nigeria Police can therefore not be used by persons who are on the wrong side of the law to promote egocentric desires 

 

Finally, we advice Nigerian doctors to remove the log in their eyes before dealing with specs in the eyes of others. A good word is enough for the wise 

 

Signed

Comrade Joy Josiah

Chairman, JOHESU