The Nation Newspaper

Tag: restitution

  • Restitution and patients’ rights in healthcare (11)

    26. (1) All information concerning a user, including information relating to his or her health status, treatment or stay in a health establishment is confidential.

    Confidentiality (2) Subject to section 27, no person may disclose any information contemplated in subsection (1) unless: (a) The user consents to that disclosure in writing; (b) a court order or any law requires that disclosure; or (i) in the case of a minor with the request of a parent or guardian; and (ii) in the case of a person who is otherwise unable to grant consent upon the request of a guardian or representative. (c) Non-disclosure of the information represents a serious threat to public health.

    Section 27: A health worker or any healthcare provider that has access to the health records of a user may disclose such personal information to any other person, health care provider or health establishment as is necessary for any legitimate purpose within the ordinary course and scope of his or her duties where such access or disclosure is in the interest of the user.

    Section 28: (1) A health care provider may examine a user’s health records for the purposes of: (a) Treatment with the authorisation of the user; and (b) Study, teaching or research with the authorisation of the user, head of the health establishment concerned and the relevant health research ethics committee. (2) If the study, teaching or research under subsection (l) (b) of this section reflects or obtains no information as to the identity of the user concerned, it is not necessary to obtain the authorisations contemplated in that subsection.

    Who is a consumer or in this case, healthcare consumer? A consumer is someone who purchases goods or services for own personal use and not for resale or for manufacture. Thus, everyone is a consumer in one form or the other, purchasing various goods and services. We depend on each other to survive. The provider of goods and services does so either as an individual or an organisation – whatever the form of such organisation – as an enterprising party for either profit or not-for-profit. The enterprise that is for profit is driven by the desire to make money. In so doing, the enterprise tends to take the route of efficiency: gaining much profit with little input. In the course of gaining profit, in the process of manufacturing goods or providing services, errors may occur. The interaction of human beings and processing of materials, all in the course to meet consumer expectation, may lead to harmful errors, faulty products, poor quality of goods and services with an end-result that causes injury to the consumer. Such injury, in a lawful and decent society of men and women, cannot and should not go without a remedy.

    On the other side of the coin, not-for-profit organisation such as churches, mosques and any other religious entity, children’s charity, and so many others, provides services or goods for reasons. Some healthcare providers, acting as charitable organisations, are set up to provide free healthcare to the public. Some legal practitioners provide charitable services. Some have altruistic intention and some exist to satisfy a given desire. In any case, a consumer still exists that consumes the doctrines, the information and services that charitable organisations provide. Regardless of if for profit or not, there are consumers for what these organisations provide. Whatever the status of such entities, so long as they provide something that someone else uses, they have a duty of care to that someone (See Nsima v. Nigerian Bottling Company (2014) LPELR- 22542(CA)). As a result of the doctrine of duty of care, consumers have rights considering that a consumer may very often give something (money, consideration, time, or productive efforts) in return for exchange for the products or services that they consume.

    Consumer protection in Nigeria

    In Nigeria, there are various laws as we have seen that are put in place to protect both biological and legal individuals. In spite of all these, abuse in various forms, persists in our society. Redress for the victims is scanty, far and few, if any. Perhaps, until 1992 when law set up the Consumer Protection Council (CPC), consumers in general, had a few routes, if any, to redress in Nigeria. As we have seen, litigation can be tortuous and expensive. It was a welcome development, when the CPC commenced operations in 1999 under the enabling Consumer Protection Council (CPC) Act (1992) with the following vision: “To be a dynamic, effective and responsible apex consumer protection agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria, championing the cause of fully sensitised consumers to achieve a caring and consumer-friendly community.”

    CPC will (or should) thus cover and intervene in any issue of consumer abuse or personal injury cases that come to its attention in any industrial sector in Nigeria.  It, therefore, seems that, the CPC is a valid and legitimate alternative route for seeking redress in cases of consumer abuses and personal injuries including clinical negligence issues. However and curiously, here is an observation by Damilola Sawyerr of Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. “Although the CPC Act makes provision for redress to complaints made by consumers through negotiation, mediation and conciliation a good alternative to court processes, the effectiveness of the Act and the ability of the Council to protect the rights of consumers through the monitoring of products manufactured by FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) companies is still in question.…initiative by the Council may also serve to provide redress to obnoxious practices or the unscrupulous exploitation of consumers by companies, firms, trade association or individual. It is only then that consumers can have respite and make FMCG companies accountable for the effects of their products on human health.”

    In summary, however, the CPC remains a good alternative to formal regulators of professionals, litigation, expensive legal representation and the court process. If you have any question or clarification on this article, please contact me: Tel: 07087733114 or website: www.the-hospitals.com

    • Culled from the book: Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence: Consumer Rights & Provider’s Responsibilities By Joel Akande

  • Restitution and patients’ rights in healthcare (1)

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that every country should have a doctor (physician) to patient ration of 1:600. However, according to recent reports in the press, quoting the country’s chief physician (Minister of Health), the doctor to patient ration in Nigeria is about 1:4000, considering that Nigeria’s population stands at about 200million.

    There are some reports also, allegedly quoting the Labour Minister, that Nigeria has no shortage of doctors. Based on these alleged official declarations, let us take a brief look at the facts. Based on the WHO recommendation above, it thus means that Nigeria needs about 330,000 doctors at a minimum to meets its needs. However, Nigeria has no fewer than 90,000 doctors and just about half of which are in active practice. According to the Health minister, 50 per cent of these are distributed around Lagos and Abuja axis.

    Yet, Nigeria ranks among the top 10 poorest healthcare systems and in the top end of worst human capital development in the world. The indexes are frightening. Despite these, doctors that are based in Nigeria are doing their best to meet the monumental challenges that they face each day. Even at this, the confidence of an average Nigeria in the health system is weak, thus necessitating the wealthy to seek healthcare services abroad. They spend over US$1 billion yearly abroad.

    That said, the topic for today is patients’ rights even in the midst of the weak healthcare system. Healthcare service providers are providing services to the consumers. Therefore, healthcare clients or patients are consumers too. These consumers fall within the Consumer Protection Act. The patients have rights, responsibilities, duties and privileges just as the service providers themselves. All of these are enshrined in Nigeria’s legal system. It’s disheartening though that clinical injuries that are negligently caused are also rising with lethal consequences for all concerned. But there is good news: patients are becoming more aware of their rights and healthcare providers are becoming more conscious of their responsibilities.

    The law forbids abuse. Patients should not abuse the legal provisions that exist to protect them to the detriment of the medical profession. With this in mind, I will set out the provision of the law that specifically relates to patients’ rights as stated in the National Health Act of 2014.  Just as for doctors, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists, psychologists and all healthcare professionals are subject to the law and not just the doctors alone. Apart from the code of conducts that regulates the respective healthcare professionals, which also provides safeguards for patients, consumers of healthcare service are also protected under the National Health Care Act of 2014. I have copied verbatim here, such, rights and safeguards under sections 23-28 of the National Healthcare Act 2014. Let us call these provisions our own Nigerian “Patients’ Bill of Rights.”

    Section 23 (1) every health care provider shall give user relevant information pertaining to his state of health and necessary treatment relating thereto including: (a) The user’s health status except in circumstances where there is substantial evidence that the disclosure of the users health status would be contrary to the best interests of the user; (b) The range of diagnostic procedures and treatment options generally available to the user; (c) The benefits, risks, costs and consequences generally associated with each option; and (d) The user’s right to refuse health services and explain the implications, risks, obligations of such refusal.

    (2) The health care provider concerned shall, where possible, inform the user in a language that the user understands and in a manner which takes into account the user’s level of literacy. According to Section 24, the federal ministry, every state ministry of health, every local government health authority and every private health care provider shall ensure that appropriate, adequate and comprehensive information is disseminated and displayed at facility level on the health services for which they are responsible, which shall include: (a) The types of health services available; (b) The organisation of health services; (c) Operating schedules and timetables of visits; (d) Procedures for laying complaints; and (e) The rights and duties of users and health care providers.

    According to Section 25, subject to applicable archiving legislation, the person in charge of a health establishment shall ensure that a health record containing such information as may be prescribed is created and available at that health establishment for every user of health services.

     

    • If you have any question or clarification on this article, please contact me: 07087733114 or website: www.the-hospitals.com.

     

    • Culled in part, from the book: ‘Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence: Consumer Rights & Provider’s Responsibilities’ by Joel Akande

  • Re: Akume and Suswam must do restitution

    SIR: Reading through the “Letter to the Editor” with the above title, in The Nation of Friday, February 23, one could imagine that the writer, Sunday Adole Jonah, supposedly an academic, shares the concern of all well-meaning people who are worried that Benue State University, Makurdi was forced to suspend, on Friday, February 16, second semester examinations of the 2016/2017 Academic session.

    However, if he were well abreast with issues surrounding the “examinations impasse”, he would have been more circumspect in making the innuendo and blanket indictment of former governors George Akume and Gabriel Suswam as well as incumbent Governor Samuel Ortom the way he did.

    For Benue State University, the duo of Akume and Suswam, during their tenure as visitor, gave the institution the needed support just like incumbent Governor Samuel Ortom is also doing.

    While former Governor Akume, for instance, started the university’s college of health sciences, his successor, Suswam, completed the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH) which enabled students of the college to advance to their clinical classes. The incumbent governor, Ortom, since becoming governor in 2015, has ensured that accreditation issues of the medical college are treated with despatch and this has resulted to the graduation of over 150 medical doctors from the college, since then.

    It may interest Adole to know that the issues which resulted to the current closure of the university have been largely caused by the students themselves, either out of ignorance or wilful refusal to conform to university regulations.

    On discovering that some students of the university have been undergoing their studies without proper registration of their courses, the present management of the institution, led by Professor Msugh Moses Kembe, on assumption of office in November 2015, resolved to change the old way of doing things. The idea is to enforce compulsory registration of courses, especially now that the exercise does not end with filling of hard copies of registration forms but also digital registration to ease marking and processing of examinations.

    So, to simplify the matter, Benue State University has about 25, 282 undergraduate students. At the moment, 13,082 of these students are fully registered and have paid all their student charges while 6562 of these have paid their student charges but are not registered. Only 5638 students have neither paid their student charges nor registered.

    It is pertinent to bring it to the knowledge of all that at the parents/ stakeholders’ forum convened by the university management on Wednesday, February 21, the forum endorsed the suspension of the examinations until March 5. It was further agreed that students who have not paid their sundry charges and those who have paid but have not registered should use this period to complete their registration. For students who may not be able to meet the financial responsibilities within this period, their parents/guardians could come forward and submit an undertaking for such wards to write the examinations.

     

    • Tser Vanger, Terzungwe, ANIPR,

    Principal Assistant Registrar (Information &Public Relations),

    Benue State University, Makurdi.

  • Akume and Suswam must do restitution

    Akume and Suswam must do restitution

    Sir: The news that some 7,000 students were unable to pay their school fees over at the Benue State University (BSU) Makurdi was depressing, very depressing indeed. As a result of the angst resulting from this state of affair, this university is shut till further notice. What is plaguing the BSU is a small-scale manifestation of what plagues the larger Benue society where the office of the governor has been a cheap getaway to the billionaires’ club.

    George Akume was someone who spent Benue State money with careless abandon. Gabriel Suswam was addicted to a cult of personality. When I first mooted the idea of a cattle ranch homestead plan to the Benue State government that would be under the auspices of an appropriately-named National Ranch Homestead Commission (NRHC) circa 2012/2013, the idea was such a great one that the federal government committed a hefty chunk of money into the process of ensuring that the Fulanis are settled for good in ranches. How Governor Suswam managed that fund is still a mystery to me. It sickens me to think that Suswam is a smug billionaire today whilst his hometown folks in Logo are being mowed down by the Fulanis that some say a N100 billion was appropriated for to settle them in ranches in the vast open landmasses of Northern Nigeria.

    Now, Benue State parents cannot pay their charges school fees because the culture of impunity that involves non-payment of salaries began with Suswam. Since former governors Akume and Suswam are ex-public servant billionaires, it should be on their consciences to do restitution and pay the school fees of those students who are hard-pressed for money at the moment over at the BSU Makurdi. Governor Samuel Ortom must pay the emoluments of civil servants and quit entertaining the thought that a cheap route to a crooked billionaire’s club is a cool thing. Benue State has endured too much tribulation as it is and this is a state that lends itself to ease of governance with so much pliable flexibility. I wonder why the governors cannot get it right.

     

    • Sunday Adole Jonah,

    FUT, Minna, Niger State

  • Nigeria’s sins: Time for atonement, deliverance, restitution and change

    Nigeria’s sins: Time for atonement, deliverance, restitution and change

    For the last three years, I have written so many papers on the wickedness of the federal government for their criminal attitude of delays and non-payment of pensions, gratuities and arrears to retired workers known as senior citizens. This has now been extended to non-retired workers. The sins committed by the present Nigerian government are legion: corruption, indiscipline, impunity, selfishness, greed, avarice, lies, ungodliness, wickedness, insecurity and all other evils of different descriptions. The foundation of all these evils is the twin evils of indiscipline and corruption. In truth, the father of corruption is indiscipline by which corruption is watered, while corruption breeds all the other evils in our society. A nation harbouring all these evils in a fell-swoop is a nation full of sins, many of which are unpardonable even in the eyes of God. As of today, Nigeria suffers from her many sins.

    The Jonathan government has committed many unpardonable sins, all of them associated with indiscipline, corruption and impunity. The consequence has led Nigeria, an oil rich nation, to a beggar nation, and a nation where God’s given wealth has been squandered through serial stealings of public funds diverted into private pockets by horrible people in government. Nigeria is a nation where people shamefully complain about non-electricity supply in the 21st century! In this article, we shall deal with official corruption as it affects Nigeria as a nation and the welfare of the good people of Nigeria, and especially the welfare of workers – the creators of the wealth of the nation. Our write-up focuses on atrocities committed by the federal government on the issues of delay or non-payment of workers’ salaries as well as gratuities and pensions of retired workers as at when due, and, of course, the corruption of the federal government that has led to the impoverishment of States and their citizens.

    It is known that the present government has made more money from oil, from 1999 to 2013 than any previous government. At one point, the price of oil reached as high as $147 per barrel. Now the price of oil has gone down to $45 per barrel which is likely to nosedive in a few weeks. The problem is compounded by the refusal of the federal government to build refineries for its 16 years in the saddle. Consequently, Nigeria exports oil only to import petroleum products which led to an unprecedented sleaze in the petroleum sector. When the going was good, and with a lot of money earned from crude oil, our government stole our fantastic earnings from crude oil through the Petroleum Ministry and the NNPC under the supervision of the darling of the presidency, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke where theft of oil was reported to have risen from 250,000 to 400,000 pb between 2011 and 2012. Things were so bad that nobody, except the Petrol Minister and Mr. President and, perhaps other few members of the cabal in the petroleum industry, know precisely how many barrels of crude oil are sold in a day and how much money accrues to the Federation Account until the missing $20bn was discovered, while ¦ 5 trillion was reported to have disappeared under the watch of the president and his petroleum minister, without explanation till today (The Nation, January 15, 2015, p5).

    People would like to believe that the discovery of the huge amounts of money was only a tip of the iceberg, as it must have been going on for years. This, of course, includes the phantom oil subsidy and various avenues of stealing in the petroleum ministry. The amount of money stolen was actually meant for the Federation Account from which all the states would have benefitted immensely through monthly allocations. We now know from Obasanjo that Nigerian foreign reserves has been depleted by more than 50%, from $67bn in 2007 to $30bn in 2014, as a result of official corruption in the oil sector. The federal government’s unprecedented profligacy has led to the tragic devaluation of the naira to ¦ 195 in January 2015, a sure scenario that would greatly hurt President Jonathan in this year’s election.

    The stealing of revenue from oil became so great that throughout last year, allocations to states that were needed to develop as well pay salaries of workers were cut by 40%. This had impacted negatively on the lives and standard of living of Nigerian citizens, workers, market women, artisans, relatives and dependants. Thus, the criminal reduction of Federal Allocation to states became a terrible blow to innocent Nigerians where God’s given wealth had been squandered by greedy, wicked and extremely corrupt people in government. Things are so bad that we now read such screaming headlines like “mass sacking looms in private sector” (Punch, January 4, 2015, pp 2 & 6). Nigerian workers and pensioners are perhaps the hardest hit. There was a disturbing headline “FG owes 70,000 workers three months salaries” (Punch, Dec. 30, 2014, p1-2) where the paper had painted a vivid picture of the way the federal government treats its workers, even at Christmas, in 2014. Note that the delay or non-payment of salaries in the States is caused by corruption, indiscipline, impunity and bad governance at the centre where state allocations are squandered and stolen, shared and some for the purpose of 2015 general elections. On this matter, one cannot but agree with Festus Eriye, editor of Sunday Nation, that “squandermania mixed withmanagerial incompetence has brought Nigeria to her current sorry pass” (January 11, 2015, p.18). On the waste of public funds the Punch’s damaging editorial (January 15, p.26) wrote about the “rampant waste of public funds, the plunder of the oil Excess Crude Oil Account and other fiscal buffers”, and then asks a most pertinent question: “where has all the oil money earned since the fourth oil boom (2003 – 2014) gone? This is most certainly a sin against Nigeria and Nigerians, and humanity at large.

    The Bible says that every labourer is entitled to his/her wages. This code is respected everywhere, but not in Nigeria where sins and evil triumph. Nigeria is a nation where workers are owed salaries in arrears of up to 6 months. Of course, the sinners in the Federal government have stolen so much money of the people that they have little left for States to pay workers’ salaries. The tragic situation was well reported in The Punch’s editorial, January 4, 2015, p.26, captioned “Celebrating New Year without salary”, part of which reads “today, many civil servants will greet the New year with despair rather than hope”. This is because of the scandalous failure of “federal government and many governors to pay salaries of workers for several months”. But the Federal government and not the state governments are responsible for this atrocious crime. The federal government had squandered the normal allocation to the states that now receive only about 50% of their entitlements. That is how bad it is. And that is where the prodigal administration of President Jonathan has led Nigeria, a nation full of milk and honey and where citizens have no reason to be poor, or workers not receiving their salaries and pensions regularly and as at when due. No wonder some people are now saying in a paradoxical fashion, that Goodluck Jonathan is BADLUCK for Nigeria, perhaps, the worst president Nigeria has ever had and which must not be allowed to continue beyond May 29, 2015.

    Rather than make atonement for the sins committed against pensioners in this country, the federal government continue to compound their woes, even at Christmas and New Year. The situation was so bad last December that Nigerian Pensioners cried out “We had a bleak Christmas and New year” (Punch, January 5, 2015, p44). According to the newspaper report, “there seems to be no end in sight yet to the problems confronting retirees of the federal government… most Nigerians enjoyed the Christmas and New Year holidays with their families and friends but there was no celebration for many federal retirees who have not been paid their pension stipends”. And the report continued “Some of the complaints coming from the Pensioners are non-payment of pensions, omission of pensioner’s names from the payroll, under-payment of pensions, delayed pensions and non-payment of arrears and gratuity”. They expressed sadness, as they have always done, about so many of their colleagues who had died without collecting their delayed gratuities and pensions. All this is happening even as more than ¦ 300bn was stolen from pension funds by one man in the pension house of horror This is a sin from which several curses rained on the present government may be difficult, if not impossible, to reverse. To be a pensioner in Nigeria is like being sentenced to death by hanging!

    I have said that the curses of pensioners, dead and alive, are troubling Nigeria, especially the curses of several thousands who had died without receiving their gratuities and pensions. Now, if it takes from 20 to 40 years to reverse a curse, how many years would it take to reverse thousands of curses by dead and living pensioners? From the look of things, I had suggested that instead of prayers about which Nigeria is well known, she should first do the following as a nation of incurable sinners (1) acknowledge her sins as committed by people in government (2) confess these sins (3) repent and (4) ask for forgiveness before we embark on any prayers, like the “Nigeria prays” by Gowon, or those by clerics the Adeboyes, Oyedepos, Kumuyis, Wale Okes, Olukoyas, Areoguns and the likes, before our prayers could be answered (see my write-up entitled “Okonjo-Iweala and Pensioners, in the Nation, June 29, 2014, p18”). Afterall, we are often told that we cannot live in sins and expect the blessings of God to multiply. For this reason, I wrote that Nigeria should ask for forgiveness first before embarking on any aggressive prayers and night vigils for a country whose sins are probably more serious than those of Sodom and Gomorrah.

    Forgiveness: Abraham Lincoln’s Proclamation

    When I sent my write-up to a young pastor, friend of mine, Pastor Kayode Ojo of the Word of Faith Ministries, Mayfair, Ile-Ife, he sent me an appropriate and useful document which confirmed my call for Nigerian leaders to ask for forgiveness before going into aggressive prayers and night vigils for which we are hypocritically known. The document is contained in a book titled, Shaping History Through Prayers and Fasting, authored by Derek Prince and published by Whitaker House, New Kensington, USA, 1973, pp 333-335. The document consists of a proclamation by the famous former president of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln. This document consists of “Three Fasts Proclaimed by Lincoln”. During his presidency, Lincoln “proclaimed three days of national humiliation, prayer, and fasting. His first proclamation (out of three) was requested by a joint committee of both houses and congress, and the day set apart was the last Thursday in September 1861.

    The following is only a part of the first  proclamation:”Whereas it is fit and becoming on all people, at all times, to acknowledge and reverse the Supreme Government of God; to bow in humble submission to his chastisements; to confess and deplore their sins and transgressions, in the full conviction that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and to pray, with all fervency and contrition, for the pardon of their past offences, and for a blessing upon their present and prospective action…” And it continues:

    “Therefore I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States do appoint the last Thursday of September next as a day of Humiliation, Prayer and Fasting, for all the people of the nation. And I do earnestly recommend to all the people, and especially to all ministers and teachers of religion, of all denominations, and to all heads of families, to observe and keep that day, according to their several creeds and modes of worship, in all humility, and with all religious solemnity, to the end that the united prayer of the nation may ascend to the Throne of Grace, and bring down plentiful blessings upon our country”. Note that the inscription on the US dollar is “In God we trust”.

    Nigeria needs atonement, forgiveness and restitution to clear the sins of massive corruption, impunity, unemployment, deaths of innocent people through official killings, abduction of 220 innocent children by the uncontrollable Boko Haram, deaths from extreme poverty, hunger and delay or non-payment of pensioners’ and workers’ salaries as at when due; deaths from lack of potable water, electricity supply (many people have died from generator fumes as a result of power outage) good health care and other evils that have triumphed under the watch of president Jonathan’s government. For this reason, I suggest that General Buhari and Prof. Osinbajo should, in the first instance and before election, declare a day for all lovers of APC to ask for God’s forgiveness for the atrocities committed by the present federal government in order to clear the way for a new APC government by sweeping away, with their anointed symbolic brooms, the atrocities committed, in the eyes of God and Nigerians, by the present administration. This is necessary for Buhari and Osinbajo in order to off-load or cancel the many sins committed by the present government so that they (Buhari/Osinbajo) could begin their own era under a clean slate. Fortunately, Gen. Buhari and Prof. Osinbajo are deeply religious people, godly, honest, disciplined and incorruptible and so would be the kind of people in which God is well pleased. Shortly after their assumption of duty as President and Vice-president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, they should make a proclamation to Nigerians, in the manner of Abraham Lincoln, by asking for forgiveness of offences of past leaders, and for God’s blessings upon their reign as well as blessings upon Nigeria and Nigerians. That is the only way our prayers could be answered and the Gordian knot untied. Perhaps, then, God would touch the heart of President Obama to visit Nigeria, the gigantic dwarf of Africa. This could only happen as a result of the CHANGE (including JUSTICE) which the APC stands for, and which would bring an already battered Nigeria to greatness and the dawn of a shining light.

     

    •Prof.  Makinde, FNAL

    is DG/CEO, Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance

    Osogbo, the State of Osun.