By Asma’u Ahmad
The Minister of State for Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, has called on Nigerians to have confidence in the nation’s healthcare sector. Ehanire made the appeal on Saturday in Abuja while speaking at the Annual General Conference of the Ophthalmological Society of Nigeria (OSN).
Dr. Osagie Ehanire
The minister identified some factors that damage confidence in any healthcare system as poor housekeeping and environmental sanitation in hospitals. Ehanire listed other negative factors to include recurring health workers strike, inter-professional rivalry which frightens users, workplace absenteeism, laissez-faire, sluggish attitude to work, unprofessional attitude of soliciting, extortion and other forms of corruption.
According to him, these unethical attitudes, lack of respect for patients’ dignity or personal privacy or the leakage of medical records also constitute damage to the system. “With these factors, patients will prefer the less equipped private hospitals with far less qualified doctors in exchange for more dignity or if able, opt to travel abroad for treatment.
“These damage not only the reputation of the hospital, but also of the doctors therein. There is nothing more precious to truly professional doctors or nurses than the respect and reputation he gets. “It is therefore, in the interest of senior doctors not to leave damaging factors only in the hands of hospital management but to instruct younger doctors correctly. “They should take active interest in countering factors giving healthcare in Nigeria a bad name, rather than take refuge in extramural private practice,’’ Ehanire advised.
The minister said that “Patients Bill of Rights’’ (PBoR) recently launched by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was designed to encourage patients to patronise public hospitals as it allayed their fear for safety, lack of respect or outright insults.
According to him, with simple change of attitude of personnel and attention to decent environment, medical tourism will naturally disappear. Dr Ehanire however urged healthcare providers to always take patients as customers paying for services, adding that theyhave rights, choices, opinion and dignity that providers must respect.
