Sunday Ehigiator
Brain drain in the health sector is overstretching the few medical personnel left behind in government-owned hospitals, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has lamented.
Likewise, Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr Tomi Coker has lamented the dearth of medical personnel in Nigeria saying Nigeria urgently needs 300,000 doctors to render effective medical services to Nigerians.
The Secretary of NMA, Lagos Zone, Dr Ime Okon made the remarks at a session with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday.
Okon advised aggrieved patients and their relatives to send their complaints through appropriate channels, rather than transfer their anger or inflict injuries on the few medical practitioners in the country.
Okon said: “We don’t want to use the brain drain and other reasons as excuses not to give excellent services; that’s why we have complaint channels to keep health workers in check.
“We want to improve ourselves and be of the best standards for everybody because the system is there for everyone.
“Doctors too fall ill; nurses fall ill, and you don’t want to be a victim of a failed system. So, we are trying to make it work for everybody.
“It could be my relative that is sick and I am not on duty; if we have a system that works, it would work well for that person. It doesn’t have to be a ‘man-know-man’ thing; once it’s systemic, it will work for everybody.’’
She also told NAN that the use of appropriate channels to register misgivings about the discharge of duty by medical practitioners would contribute a lot to improving healthcare delivery.
Okon stressed that complaint boxes and phone numbers of Medical Directors and Heads of Nursing “are placed at strategic locations within all public hospitals. Complaints sent there are promptly addressed.’’
She added that using the complaint channels would yield a quick response from hospitals’ management rather than resorting to the attack of health workers or resorting to the use of social media to lay complaints.
“Complaints are signals that are treated with confidentiality. If you call and they don’t pick up, it means they are busy; you can send a text message and they will call you back.
“NMA is following these complaints and we discover that most of them are frivolous.
“There’s a recent issue at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital where somebody assaulted health workers and the management of the hospital decided to take up the case legally.
“The family is begging for an out-of-court settlement now and the healthcare workers are angry with the decision because people are trying and sweating to ensure the health system works,’’ Okon said.
She also told NAN that the cooperation of parents and relatives of patients was needed, noting that health workers understand and try to reduce the psychological pressure faced during treatment.
Okon noted that concerted efforts were being made to ensure that public health facilities improved and functioned optimally for the benefit of citizens.
Meanwhile, Coker lamented the dearth of medical personnel in Nigeria saying Nigeria urgently needs 300,000 doctors to render effective medical services to Nigerians.
Coker said this at the International Healthcare Conference and Exhibition organised by Katherine Oxford Ltd in collaboration with Ace Medicine Clinics held at the Conference Centre, Covenant University, Ogun State.
The conference themed: ‘Mentoring in the Healthcare Sector for Sustainable Development,’ brought together medical doctors, pharmacists, laboratory technicians, nurses, and students, among others.
She said that out of the 80,000 registered doctors in Nigeria, about 40,000 are not in Nigeria, 8,000 are in the United Kingdom and 4,000 are in America.
