By Auwal Ahmed Ibrahim
SIR: Nigeria is seriously battling with fake medical practitioners here and there, causing more harm than good for the country. Currently, there are thousands of illegal health institutions in Nigeria and fake medical professionalism is another tsunami for the country. Taking a decisive major decision for a better healthcare system in Nigeria at this crucial time is most welcome and important.
In 2022, Kano State shutdown 26 illegal health institutions in the state. This problem is not peculiar to Kano State alone; it is a problem that disturbs the nation. The move by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to arrest illegal operators of health colleges has come to save Nigerians’ lives.
The health sector in Nigeria is characterised not only by illegal institutions but also fake medical practitioners, and the NBTE’s vow to hunt violators is a progressive step to sanitise the health system in the country.
The Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education, on 27th of April, 2023, in a meeting with proprietors of health colleges in Nigeria, said the Board had partnered with the Department of State Services (DSS) to expose and arrest violators.
Research in 2006 showed that more than 400,000 people die every year in Nigeria and the maternal mortality figure in Nigeria in the last year stood at 512 deaths per 100,000 live births, and these casualties are connected with the number of quack nurses produced by illegal health colleges in the country.
The statement of Professor Idris M. Bugaje is true that most of the illegal colleges don’t have formal methods of teaching, they extort and swindle their students. ”The board is determined to rid Nigeria of illegal health institutions, as some of them are currently under the DSS investigation,” he said.
The commitment of NBTE will invigorate the Vision 2050 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) towards a better healthcare system in Nigeria, and sanitise the Nigerian healthcare sector.
The effort to sanitise health colleges in Nigeria is a good move by the NBTE but that is not enough because there are many unregistered hospitals in Nigeria which connive with illegal and fake medical practitioners, killing people.
The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN), Medical Rehabilitation Therapists Board (MRTB) and other relevant unions and agencies should be up and doing to augment the effort of NBTE.
Another very important thing is, those illegal health colleges and hospitals exist in the rural and remote areas, hiding away from people but journalists can help in exposing them.
For NBTE, it has partnered with DSS to arrest operators of illegal health colleges; but the government and other relevant agencies can partner with journalists and communities’ leaders to address the issue, and having a hotline or mailbox can help in tackling and exposing the rot in the Nigerian health sector.
NBTE has taken a bold and positive step to improve Nigeria’s health sector, and this demands commendations.