There are about 120 medical doctors currently facing the investigative panel of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), the President of the National Medical Association (NMA), Dr. Francis Faduyile, said yesterday.
Faduyile also announced that NMA will float a quasi-health insurance programme that will address pocket health expenditure. The NMA president also spoke on the need for the government to improve the security situation in the country to ensure that medical workers go about their jobs without the fear of kidnappers and other criminals.
Faduyile, who addressed reporters yesterday in Abuja, the nation’s capital, on the outcome of the 59th annual general conference of the union in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, said of the 120 cases under investigations, two doctors had been convicted by the medical tribunal for professional misconduct.
He said: “Since constituting the board of the Medical and Dental Council, we have been able to have a session and the investigating panel has met. I know that they have over 120 cases they are investigating.
“The medical tribunal has had a full week session where we had two or three of our members, who appeared before the tribunal, punished for some wrongdoings while they were dealing with their necessary health management.
“I can tell you that the MDCN is working well, we are happy, and we can now take charge of the health of Nigerians to make sure that Nigerians are not unnecessarily put thorough wrong management by any officer.”
On what the association had done to improve healthcare in the country, Faduyile said it was planning a quasi-insurance scheme, separate from the National Health Insurance Scheme (HNIS) to address the out-of-pocket spending, which has pushed a lot of people into poverty.
The “Project Five by Three,” he said, is aimed at raising five million people who will contribute some money that will be used to address the heath challenge of majority of the population.
He said: “And what the NMA has done, rather than making a lot of noise about that, we have brought out ‘Project Five by Three’, which is a project by NMA, where we are hoping to get five million Nigerians registered within the next three years. It will be a sort of quasi-health insurance where we take care of the health needs of the patients.
“This is what we believe we can use to make the people get a very good health care.”
Expatiating on the quasi-insurance scheme, Faduyile said: “The ‘Project Five by Three’ is a project that is anchored by the NMA. It is a project of social safety net. It is not under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), where we have a large number of people coming together to contribute some money and we can use that to take care of the generality of the people.
“Again, it is it not under the NHIS. But I can tell you that it has worked marvellously in some countries, like Siri Lanka; it has improved their health status. When we get it fully on the ground, I know Nigerians will be happy about what we have done.”
On the need for improved security for health professionals, he said: “On the kidnap of our doctors, NMA has been working round the clock in Taraba State and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to see that our abducted doctors are released. Unfortunately, after meeting some of the demands of the kidnappers, these doctors are yet to be released.
“We believe that if we have an improved security arrangement and the security apparatus is better, we could have been able to effect the release our doctors.
“And we are calling on the acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) and all other security agencies involved to help us secure the release of these doctors.
“We need better security around healthcare professionals so that we will not be hiding and not be able to do our jobs as expected.”
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