Senate decries sale of medical reports by public hospitals – TheNigerialawyer

The Senate on Tuesday bemoaned the open sale of fake medical
reports by public hospitals in the country.

It, therefore, directed the Federal Ministry of Health to set up
an efficient and proper mechanism to identify and prevent the
commercialization of medical reports by public hospitals in the
country.

While describing the phenomenon of selling medical reports as a
“very dangerous trend in Public Hospitals” the Senate also urged
the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) “to intensify its effort in
checking incidences of fraud and quackery in the medical
profession, especially in public hospitals.”

These resolutions of the Red Chamber followed a motion titled:
“The proliferation of Fake Medical Reports emanating from Public
Hospitals in Nigeria” which was moved by the Senator representing
Anambra Central Senatorial District, Uche Lilian Ekwunife.

Ekwunife in her lead debate called on the Senate to note with
“discomfort” a recent investigation which revealed the ease with
which ”authentic” medical reports can be obtained from some public
hospitals in Nigeria for a fee without medical tests or proof of
identity.

She expressed worry that the “commercialization of medical
reports” in the country poses grave danger to the medical health
and safety of citizens which could result in fatal misdiagnosis of
patients or anyone else who relies on the contents of such medical
reports.

She urged the Senate to recognize the “dire importance of the
medical report as a document which is accorded great weight and
importance in the ordinary course of our day to day business,
including courts of law.”

She noted that medical reports contain individual’s personal
medical records and details which are used to ascertain a “person’s
medical condition, obtain health benefits, certify one’s mental
state, investigate addictions, diagnose treatments, and most
importantly, ascertain and form medical opinions.”

She lamented that the integrity of medical reports issued by
hospitals in the country are being compromised and “eroded by the
realization that it may not contain the true and accurate medical
details of the person named in the report.”

She said that the Senate is aware that the Code of Ethics of the
medical profession abhors the illegal issuance of medical
certificates and records to patients without conducting all the
relevant tests.

She urged her colleagues to be further aware that even though
guidelines exist in the medical profession which proscribe these
conducts, there is no “effective implementation of these
regulations.”

She said that the Red Chamber should be desirous in curbing what
appears to be a trend of commercialization of medical reports in
some public hospitals where ‘authentic’ medical reports “are
obtained for a fee, and without undergoing any tests
whatsoever.”

Senators in their contributions supported the motion.

The two prayers of the motion were approved by Senators when
they were put to voice vote by Senate President Ahmad Lawan.

The purpose of the event with theme: Timely
Recognition Averts Deformity, sub-theme: Raise Awareness to Prevent
Noma, is to scale up awareness of the disease towards preventing
the disease in the country.

In his keynote address, the Minister of Health, Dr E.
Osagie Ehanire, said that Noma disease can be reduced and even
prevented, first by promoting national awareness of the disease and
improving nutrition including promoting exclusive breastfeeding in
the first six months of a child’s life.

He added that education on prenatal care, personal
hygiene, timely immunization against common childhood diseases,
improving environmental sanitation and poverty reduction are very
key while stressing that detecting Noma early and treating it can
halt and largely reverse the devastating impacts of the
disease.

While reiterating on the need to ensure that
immunization programmes reach all segments of the population, the
Minister charged participants drawn from over ten countries from
the African region to do their best to develop best practices in
preventing, controlling and managing Noma disease.

On the part of Nigeria, Ehanire disclosed that Nigeria
has established the National NOMA Control program in collaboration
with the WHO which aims to boost awareness of NOMA, its prevention
and care.

He also informed that the Health Ministry has embarked
on a number of national trainings, step down trainings and
sensitization activities in high burden States such as: Kebbi,
Sokoto, Jigawa and Akwa Ibom, in collaboration with the National
Orientation Agency and Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, to
increase surveillance, case finding and prompt disease
reporting.

 Ehanire further announced that the Federal
Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the World Health
Organization (WHO) and other stakeholders has developed the
National NOMA policy document and the triennial NOMA control action
plan [2019-2021] which was approved in the National council on
Health in August 2019.

 Earlier, the Permanent Secretary of the
Ministry, Mr. Abdulaziz M. Abdullahi, charged participants to
commit to finding workable ways to control and possibly kick out
the gory disease in the sub region, ensuring that the Ministry
would consider the outcome of the meeting for implementation with
relevant partners.

Also speaking, the WHO, officer-in-charge Nigeria, Dr.
Clement Peter, said ‘’NOMA has disappeared in the developed world
but 140,000 still suffer from Noma every year due to poverty and
malnutrition in the African Region. He however reiterated the
commitment of WHO to partner with Nigerian Government to ensure
that Noma is a disease of the past.