By Asma’u Ahmad
The President of National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) chapter, Dr. Ade Faponle, said Nigeria does not have prepared template to handle outbreak of infectious diseases.
Dr. Faponle disclosed at a news conference in Ilorin that such a development was sad and retrogressive, and made health practitioners to resort to ad hoc measures in addressing outbreak of infectious diseases.
The NARD president called for a change, saying the Federal and State governments must establish proactive mechanism to deal with infectious diseases before their outbreaks.
“Obviously many infectious diseases occurred earlier this year. We had Lassa fever and it was when it happened that we started trying on how to put things in order. I just wish that many times, we had a well prepared template and not wait for an outbreak. There should be a certain template such that people know what to do,” he said.
The president advised that since infectious diseases’ outbreak could not be wished away, there was need for proactive measures by having the relevant equipment handy.
He also suggested improved healthcare delivery at primary and secondary levels so that the tertiary healthcare system would not be over-burdened.
According to him, private-public partnership was necessary in upscaling the health system, especially because it requires the private sector to sort out some of the challenges in the health system.
Faponle noted that such a move would free resources for the tertiary system and lead to efficiency.
