The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has called on the Federal Government to compensate victims of the unfortunate death in Tudun Biri, Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna state, caused by an accidental bombing targeting insurgents and bandits.
The National President of NMA, Dr Uche Ojinmah, who led other executive members made the call at a news conference in Abuja.
He said that the call was part of the resolutions reached at the end of the association’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja which began on December 10 to Dec. 17 respectively.
Ojinmah said that the association commiserate with Kaduna State Government and the Federal Government, as well as commended the military for accepting responsibility and offering apology.
The National President however called on the Federal Government to adequately compensate the victims and foot the bill of those in Hospitals, as well as called on the military to improve the precision of their intelligent reports to avert a recurrence of the incident.
Ojinmah also called on the Federal Government to quickly stem the tide of the Naira which he said has caused a negative consequent effect on the price of medications, and has led to more suffering for fellow citizens.
He said that this has become more imperative to make access to Universal Health Coverage (UHC) for all and sundry to reduce out of pocket expenditure for healthcare, adding that this is the time for governments at all levels to think towards UHC to help the people.
The President, on behalf of NMA, called for caution on the political stride that is on-going in the Rivers State, as well as calling on the gladiators to consider the best interest of Rivers people in all their engagements.
Ojinmah also spoke on the directive emanating from the government for all cases of medical emergencies to be treated by doctors in private and public hospitals, but questions on who pays the bill for these emergency cases especially for private hospitals.
The NMA President, who said that private hospitals are purposely opened for business, stated that where things are done properly, the government should have UHC whereby insurance could take care of these emergency cases.
He queried why the National Health Act 2014, which was passed and signed since 2014, and provided that 1 per cent from the first line charge should be set aside partly to fund the Basic Health Care was yet to be implemented.
“The basic healthcare fund is supposed to take care of the first 48 to 72 hours of emergency for every Nigerian, this has not been implemented till today, so if you asked private practitioners to treat people free, he won’t do that, these are issues that should be untangled before we start issuing directives.
“Every private hospital is open for business; some are even running on loan, so let’s stop paying lip service to emergency healthcare and do the right thing,’’ he said.
The NMA President also spoke on the directive by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) for treatment of gunshot injury patients without police reports for a certain period of time, saying that doctors are ready to comply, but called on the IGP to sound it to other police officers to also comply with his directive.
He called on the IGP to warn other police officers over what he described as unnecessary harassment from these officers on these emergency cases.
According to him, if somebody goes in for a laboratory or a brain surgery following gunshot injury, “sometimes such an operation usually takes six hours or more and then the police will lay siege on you, arrest you and embarrass you in the name of emergency.”
He said that the police must do their best by respecting the order from IGP, adding that the Nigeria doctors are ready to take care of Nigerians.
The NMA President also noted the progressive exit of International pharmaceutical companies and other companies from Nigeria, stressing that the situation has become worrisome for NMA.
He said that such a situation portends dangers for the future of the country’s healthcare and economy, while calling on the government to improve on the ease of doing business in the country and quickly stabilize the economy so that companies will stay.
According to him, the price of ordinary augmenting is now beyond the common man, and that some of these drugs are now worth the monthly salary of some people, and that there is no way people can survive in this kind of situation.
Ojinmah, on behalf of NMA, also noted the oppression which Medical Students at Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ebonyi state and Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma in Edo State are passing through.
He alleged that these two institutions authorities have given out orders that are contrary to training standards, adding that you can’t force a man to read another course when he came in to read medicine, due to lack of accreditation.
According to him, forcing someone to read physiology while paying the school fees of medical students is unacceptable, and called on the FG to investigate the type of school fee they are putting on students at Alex Ekwueme University.
He also called on journalists to beam their searchlight on these institutions and find out what is going on, saying that NMA is watching those institutions closely.
Ojinmah called on the authorities of these schools to reverse all the draconian policies they have put on students or face the wrath of all medical doctors in Nigeria.
The NMA President also gave the federal government till January 31, 2024 to implement the upward review of Consolidated Medical Salary Structure and to also implement the newly approved accruement allowance with areas from June 2023.
He said that NMA cannot guarantee industrial harmony in the health sector if all its demands, particularly on welfare are not met, adding that the association had been patient enough.
The NMA President said that right now, the association doesn’t even have a clear direction about when all the allowances will be implemented even though they had been approved since July 1, 2023.
According to him, “we cannot be talking of brain drain and the little the country could do to assuage it, the government is not doing that.”
He called on FG to quickly do the little it intends to do for the doctors, stressing that doctors are rendering great sacrifice.
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