The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Doctors

  • Doctors suspend four-month strike

    Doctors suspend four-month strike

    After four months, doctors at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti (FETHI) have returned to work, following the intervention of Governor Ayo Fayose, traditional rulers, senior medical professionals and prominent citizens of Ekiti State.

    In a statement yesterday by chairman of FETHI chapter of Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), Dr. Otutoaja Uzoma and Secretary, Dr. Ekundayo Oladeji, the doctors blamed the strike on what they called “injustice and harsh working condition”.

    It reads: “The association deeply regrets the plight of the patients and Ekiti people in general having been denied quality health care in the past four months.”

    They claimed that the management of the hospital headed by Dr Lawrence Majekodunmi “has not granted any of the association’s demands among which is immediate implementation of skipping for doctors as approved by the Federal Government.

  • Ebonyi doctors hire guards after colleague’s kidnap  

    Medical Directors of most privately-owned hospitals in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, have beefed up security in their facilities following the kidnap of a medical doctor.

    Before the security alert, the medical director of Smile Hospital, Abakaliki, Dr. Johnson Obuna was kidnapped by three gunmen.

    A pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in the state was also abducted.

    Both men have been rescued by the state police.

    Dr. Obuna, a former chair of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), according to the State Commissioner of Police, Peace Ibekwe Abdullah, was kidnapped at about 8pm recently.

    Investigations revealed that since the kidnap, there has been tension and panic among most medical directors in the state as many of them have now hired security operatives as bodyguards.

    It was also observed that some of them who are yet to engage the services of security operatives visit their private clinics in disguise and also spend little time in the clinic.

    A patient in one of the clinics along Afikpo Road, Mrs. Chinyere Iteshi said, “Since the news of the kidnap of the medical director of Smile Hospital, Dr. Obuna, my doctor who usually came to the clinic at about 4pm and stayed till 8pm, now comes around 4pm and leaves in less than 30 minutes.”

    Continuing, she said, “On two occasions, the doctor came to the clinic on a commercial tricycle or Keke NAPEP, a development that was strange to most of us until we were informed that he is being security conscious. At times, you see him with a T-shirt, Jeans trousers and face cap, all in a bid to disguise himself; I think the security personnel should reassure people of their safety to enable them go about their normal business”.

    When The Nation visited some other private hospitals and clinics within the capital city, it was also observed that some security operative now guild the hospitals and clinics while cars and other vehicles now go through serious checks before they are allowed to go also within the city.

    Meanwhile, The State Commissioner of Police, CP Peace Ibekwe Abdallah has warned those who want to bring disquiet and disorder in the State to stay clear from the state as the command would engage such persons with all lawful force to ensure that they are dealt with.

    The CP state that; in the early hours of 8th September, 2015, a distress call was received by the operations control room of Ebonyi State Police Command that a medical doctor in Abakaliki was kidnapped by hoodlums”.

    “A combined team of SARS, Anti kidnapping, SIB operation, patrol teams from central police station and Area Command Abakaliki quickly swung into action and rescued the victim hale and hearty”.

    The CP who stated that she believes in team work noted that every police officer in the state is key to providing adequate security to Ebonyi community adding that security is every one’s business.

    She assured residents of the State of her determination to put to a stop kidnapping, armed robbery, communal conflicts and cult activities adding that men of the command would comb all criminal hideouts in the state to arrest and prosecute those arrested.

    A medical Practitioner who spoke to The Nation on grounds of anonymity commended the new Commissioner for Police for rescuing the kidnap doctor in less than 24 hours he was abducted adding that she has exhibited her readiness to fight crime to a stop in the State.

    The Medical Doctor also commended men of the command for the stop and search approach especially at night pointing out that with such measures, hoodlums would find it difficult to operate in the state.

    He urged the State Governor Chief Dave Umahi to urgently make available to the command the security gadgets pointing out that it would go a long way in communicating the different patrol teams of any eventuality.

    Dr. Obuna, an Obstetrician gynecologist with the Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki was kidnapped by unknown gunmen when he was about leaving his hospital after the day’s work at Aguogboriga Estate in Abakaliki.

    Similarly, the Nigeria Medical Association, NMA has shelved their intended strike action following the rescue of their former Chairman.

    The union State Chairman Dr. Agwu Umahi had in a chat with newsmen threatened to embark on strike action if their colleague was not released to them.

    He noted that kidnap of medical doctors in the state has become a trend and should be discouraged by security agencies.

  • Teaching doctors to communicate

    Teaching doctors to communicate

    There are some stories that just refuse to go away.  They keep popping up in various ways until all possible angles are exhausted.  The story of Oluchi Anekwe’s death is one of them.  And I am about to explore my own angle to it by proposing a review of the medical curriculum.

    The sad tale of the young lady’s death reminded me of a small, seemingly insignificant book presentation that I attended on July 8, 2015 in Lagos.  The book, Medicine Abroad, was presented to a few journalists by the author, Dr Adaeze Ifezulike.  The only other person present was her brother, Mr Mike Ogbalu.  There was no chairman, chief launcher, or special dignitaries to buy copies for huge amounts; and no representatives from the Medical and Dental Council of Nigerian (MDCN), National Universities Commission (NUC), or the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) – Just the two of them, and, us.

    But I thought it was insightful that she wrote the book.  She trained as a medical doctor at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) before relocating to the United Kingdom to practice.  Before she came up to talk about herself and the book, her brother had given us an insight into the kind of person she was.  As a student in Nigeria, Dr Ifezulike was used to coming tops.  She had a clean academic record all through her studies.  However, she had her first taste of failure when she had to be assessed before she could practice in the UK.  It was not in the theory or practice of medicine that she fell short, but in patient management.

    It was because of the differences in the ways patients are managed in our hospitals compared to the Western world that Dr Ifezulike wrote the book.  She said these differences, which she observed in her 16 years of practicing abroad, were among the reasons why two-thirds of doctors trained in Africa get axed abroad according to a research conducted by The Telegraph.

    The cultural perception of doctors as know-alls in Nigeria, which affects how they treat their patients, is not the same as in the UK and other parts of Europe.  Over there, she said the doctors respect their patients and do not impose their knowledge.  In our country, doctors are so revered they are nearly feared.

    In the story I wrote of that event, published on July 16, 2015, she said: “In our culture here in Nigeria, the doctor is regarded as king. Moving over to UK, I found that the consultation is between equals. I understood that you don’t just tell a patient this is what you need to do.  It is so important that there is a rapport. The patient must be made to feel that he is a part of the decision.” (http://staging.thenationonlineng.net/book-to-help-african-trained-doctors-survive-in-uk/)

    She hoped that the MDCN and the NUC would review the medical training curriculum to change the way doctors communicate with patients here in Nigeria. She wrote the book to guide African-trained doctors about the cultural differences they must be aware of to practice successfully.

    That call has become more pressing now following the death of Oluchi Anekwe at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) last week.  Her family blames her death on the negligence of the health workers at the UNILAG Medical Centre when she was brought in.  They claim she was alive by the time they took her to the centre but was not immediately attended to.  However, the doctors have said that she was already dead by the time she arrived because there was no pulse.  It may have been so, since they are the professionals and know what to check.  However, they did not communicate appropriately.  I have used public hospitals enough to know that this was the case.  When you enter to see a doctor, he asks your symptoms.  While you are talking, he takes down notes, examines you if necessary, then gives you a prescription and you leave.  I have left the hospital many times and when I was asked what the doctor said was wrong I could not answer because I was not told – and did not ask.  The only times I have been told anything was when I asked questions.

    After noticing there was no pulse when Oluchi was rushed to the Medical Centre, rather than ignore the concerns of her sisters, who believed she was still alive and something could be done, the doctors should found ways to tell them the situation.  The explanation that they asked for identity cards to buy time is not tenable.

    Like Dr Ifezulike noted, I agree that Nigerian doctors must learn to build rapport with their patients and respect them.  Not all patients are ignorant or inferior.  Even if they are, they deserve to be respected.  A course in Patient Management – complete with how to communicate with a variety of patients should be part of the Nigerian medical curriculum, if it is not already there.  If it is there, then there needs to be a change in how it is taught.

  • UNTH Doctors vows to continue ten weeks old strike

    UNTH Doctors vows to continue ten weeks old strike

    The Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) has vowed to continue its indefinite strike until the hospital yields to their demands.

    In a communique issued in Ibadan by the President of ARD, Dr Ugwuoke Aloy Ifedinso and it’s General Secretary, Dr Ndiokwelu Chibuzo,‎said after an exhaustive and careful debate by the members of the association, they unanimously resolved that the ten weeks old strike of the association will continue indefinitely until the hospital management makes adequate commitment towards meeting all their legitimate demands.

    “The management has done nothing different from the state of things before the strike commenced.

    W advised the hospital management in the best interest of the numerous patients of UNTH to liaise with their colleagues in other Federal Teaching Hospitals in the country to know how thy implement and paid the salaries and hence industrial harmony exist.

    “The payment of our Teaching Allowance Arrears, advancement arrears, months relativity arrears, all outstanding update and exam refunds and capitations due to ARD UNTH is sacrosanct and must be cleared to bring our members at par with their colleagues in other centres.

    ” all the excos and all volunteering members of our association are mandated to do all within the ambit of the law to expose the injustices being meted out on our members to the whole world and cause the UNTH management to do the needful.” they said

    The association also demands for the forensic auditing of UNTH personnel records in conjunction with NMA Enugu State and MDCAN UNTH as agreed in a meeting between the NMA and Committee of CMDs/MDs several months ago.

    They said:”This of course will include the critical review of UNTH warrant of pay and nominal roll to ascertain how UNTH personnel cost has been utilized in the past four years at least.

    ‎”We express our full commitment and support for the ‘Change’ agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari which has already started yielding enormous and palpable fruits to the ordinary Nigerians. We however appeal to the President to cause the UNTH management to immediately put an end to this impasse by shifting grounds in favour of our demands which are not only legitimate but attainable,” the communique said.

  • Dealing with quack doctors

    Sir: The recent arrest of a fake medical doctor in the employ of the Federal Ministry of Health, Abuja, has raised concerns over the seeming invasion of the medical profession by quacks. The suspect, Martins Ugwu, who is already facing trial, had allegedly worked in the health ministry for the past nine years undetected using the certificate of his friend, Dr. Davidson Daniel George. He had already risen to the position of chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) chapter of the Ministry of Health before he was caught.

    This is not the first time that an unscrupulous person would impersonate a medical doctor in the country. Some male nurses have posed as doctors and actually worked as such in government and private medical facilities before they were detected. In the same vein, some medical students who failed to graduate from medical schools have been known to parade themselves as doctors and work in some hospitals in the country, doing more harm than good to the nation’s healthcare delivery system.

    The prosecution of this impostor should be seen to its logical conclusion. Anyone who may have aided and abated this criminality should be apprehended and prosecuted alongside the main suspect.  It is ridiculous that Ugwu worked in the health ministry and was not detected for   nine long years. There are likely to be other fake doctors in our hospitals. There may also be fake pharmacists, nurses and midwives. There is hardly any profession in Nigeria that does not have its fair share of impostors. They can be found in law, engineering and journalism, amongst others.

    Pragmatic strategies need to be adopted by relevant authorities to flush dusuch people out of the system. The craze for paper qualifications and white collar jobs in the country seems to be the driving force for this type of criminality. The general high level of graduate unemployment might also be a factor.

    It is good that the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), a statutory body in charge of registration and discipline of   qualified medical and dental doctors in the country, has commenced the verification of all medical doctors employed by the Federal Government to check this ugly development. The MDCN should go beyond this because if the problem is not properly tackled, it could erode the confidence of the public in the nation’s healthcare system.  Beyond the verification of qualified doctors,   we recommend routine checks on all health institutions in the country, whether public or private. Let the council beam its searchlights on all states and local governments in the country to fish out fake doctors. It should speedily conduct the audit and release a register of qualified medical doctors in Nigeria. If this is done, it will be easier to detect quacks in the system.

    The council should also partner with NMA in its efforts to track down quacks. This should go beyond operation “show your certificates.” Medical colleges should consider starting the embossment of pictures of qualified medical doctors on their certificates as a way out of this quagmire.

    We say this because medical practice, which deals with human life, is too important to trifle with. The invasion of the hallowed medical profession by quacks portends great danger for healthcare in Nigeria.  Everything must be done to save Nigerians from persons who disguise as doctors and other medical professionals.

     

    • Ayo Adesugba,

     Abuja.

  • Jigawa to recruit doctors from Korea

    The Jigawa State Government has said it will recruit expatriate doctors from Korea to increase the number of medical personnel to health institutions.

    Governor Muhammadu Badaru said this when he addressed reporters on his 100 days in office.

    He said: “…We established two more specialist hospitals in Hadejia and Kazaure in addition to the new School of Nursing at Hadejia.”

    The governor called for support and understanding for his administration to deliver dividends of democracy to all.

  • Doctors: FMC boss must go

    Doctors: FMC boss must go

    The Association of Resident Doctors (ARDs) at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Owo in Ondo State, have urged the Federal Ministry of Health to recall its interim administrator, Dr. Adediran Kolajo, over alleged victimisation of its members.

    The union also urged the Federal Government to conduct a forensic audit of the FMC, including projects executed before and during the tenure of Kolajo.

    The doctors alleged that the new management has declared total war on the union and its over 100 members, adding that the outcome of the cold war was the suspected burglary of the ARD lounge on Tuesday.

    ARD alleged that those who burgled the lounge acted on the instruction of the FMC boss, adding that all their equipment in the lounge was damaged.

    Speaking at a press conference held at the FMC Centre, President of the association, Dr. Isaiah Oke, leveled 12 allegations against the management.

    According to Oke, some of these include the unjust relocation letter handed to 17 Resident Doctors to exit the Center against the national recognised residency training guidelines.

    Other allegations according to Oke include “failure to settle all outstanding arrears which include examination and update fees for ARD members; 2013 and 2014 promotion arrears; January 2015 relativity arrears and 20 percent of two months relativity arrears of 2014; non-recognition of ARD whereas due

    Oke noted that rather than addressing these issues, 26 members of ARD were giving administrative queries.

    The doctors, who embarked on a three-day warning strike last week, have threatened to go on an indefinite strike if their demands are not meant.

    But the FMC management had declared that all necessary administrative measures would be taken to address indiscipline in the hospital.

    In a statement signed by Lucky Omoaregba, the management accused ARD members of sabotaging its efforts at restoring sanity to the hospital.

     

  • IGP tells doctors to assist accident victims, others

    IGP tells doctors to assist accident victims, others

    The Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, has urged medical personnel and members of the public to attend to accident victims and persons with gunshot injuries.

    He, however, noted that the police should be informed for necessary action after attending to them.

    He explained that the call is necessary due to neglects and untimely death of victims following  fear of being implicated without police involvement.

    The Police High Command also ordered its officers not to harass good Samaritans in this regard, but endeavour to elicit correct facts in relation to incidents from them.

    This is contained in a statement issued yesterday by the Force spokesman, Emmanuel Ojukwu.

    The statement reads: “Doctors on duty are equally duty bound to treat victims of gunshot wounds and further inform police of relevant facts.The safety of Nigerians is a collaborative effort of all and sundry.

    “Police, therefore, enjoin citizens not to relent in their cooperative attitude in ensuring safety of all. While they are also to report any suspicious person or persons to the nearest police station”.

  • CMD appeals to striking doctors

    Worried by the effects of the two-month-old industrial action, the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti (FETHI), Dr. Majekodunmi Ayodele, has appealed to striking resident doctors to return to work.

    Ayodele, who spoke with reporters in Ido-Ekiti said the appeal became necessary as the demands of the members of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) are being looked into by the Federal Government.

    He urged the striking medics to consider the plight of patients and other members of the public who are bearing the brunt of the strike which began in May.

    FETHI chapter of ARD has joined their counterparts in other parts of the country to down tools to protest the alleged non-implementation of what they called “grade skipping” by the health institutions owned by the Federal Government.

    Doctors working in federal hospitals are up-in-arms against their CMDs for not honouring the directive of the Federal Ministry of Health on “grade skipping”.

    But, Ayodele contended that the Federal Government had not commenced the implementation of the policy as canvassed by ARD.

    According to him, the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission had explained that the modalities for the implementation have not been worked out.

  • Resident doctors at LUTH suspend strike

    Resident doctors at LUTH suspend strike

    The Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idiaraba, yesterday suspended its strike after a congress decision.

    This is contained in a statement by Dr Ramon Moronkola, the association’s president in Lagos.

    According to Moronkola, the decision was based on appeals by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, a former president; elders of the profession; civil society groups; and other Nigerians.

    The statement said work would resume at 8 a.m. today.

    “The Association of Resident Doctors, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), hereby suspends her ongoing strike action by congress decision.

    “It is our hope that the hospital’s management will reciprocate this gesture by adhering to the terms of agreement.

    “This should be by ensuring smooth implementation of the Federal Government’s directive on the adjusted grade level, amongst other local issues, which have lingered for too long.

    “While we reaffirm the legitimacy of our demands, we appreciate members of the public who were the direct victims of this impasse for their understanding and constructive criticism.

    “We hereby call on the Federal Government to institute a probe into the immediate and remote cause(s) of this seemingly recurrent crisis in the health sector in a bid to putting an end to it.

    “This particular strike could have been averted since. This is because the Federal Government, through a circular from the Office of the Head of Civil Service, issued on the Dec. 19, 2013, adequately addressed the issue,’’ the statement said.

    On Monday, June 29, the ARD of LUTH commenced an indefinite strike over working conditions at the hospital.