NMA Slams Nigerian Elites Who Seek Medical Treatment Overseas

DAVID ODEY

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has lambasted Nigerian elites and top political office holders who promote medical tourism and capital flight from Nigeria by seeking medical treatment for minor ailments overseas.
The medical practitioners expressed their view in a communiqué issued at the end of its 57th Annual General Conference/Delegates  Meeting (AGC/ADM) which took place in Calabar, capital of Cross River State.
The one week event tagged ‘Paradise City 2017’ was attended by medical doctors from within and outside Nigeria.
The conference which had as its theme ‘Technology in Medicine: Implications for Healthcare in Nigeria and Medical Tourism’, ended Sunday with a 16-point communiqué aimed at repositioning the healthcare sector in the country.
In the communique jointly signed by the President, Prof Mike Ozovehe Ogrima and Secretary General, Dr. Yusuf Tanko Sununu, the ADM rejected any attempt to harmonise salaries and wages in the health sector and called on the government to avoid any action that could escalate industrial disharmony in the health sector.
The doctors called on the Federal Government “to ensure implementation and adherence to our collective agreements to forestall incidents of unnecessary and avoidable industrial disputes.”
The ADM ratified the adoption of NMA stamp/seal for Medical Practitioners to checkmate quackery in Nigeria.

The ADM also ratified the affiliation to NMA of the Medical and Dental Specialists Association in Basic Medical Science  (MEDSABAMS).
The association also ratified and adopted the amendments to the constitution of the Nigerian Medical Association effective 29 April, 2017.
The medical practitioners urged the Federal Government to begin full implementation of the National Health Act and provide legal backing for the RTP.

In addition, ADM urged the FG to immediately reconstitute the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), and called on the FG to be proactive and have a strong rapid emergency response to disease outbreaks and resume immediate local production of vaccines in the country.
The medical practitioners decried “the deteriorating infrastructures in public hospitals, bad road networks, poor electricity supply, unacceptable high rates of kidnapping and armed robbery across the country.”
The Cross River State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Mr. Peter Egba, said at the occasion that the Cross
River State Government will do everything within its powers to support Medical Entrepreneurs to establish health facilities of international standard in the state.
While commenting on the Conference sub-theme, Senator Olanrewaju Tejuoso, Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, assured the medical practitioners that the APC-led Federal Government will not renege on its campaign promise of banning senior government officials from medical tourism abroad, but it first has to optimize the healthcare system in Nigeria.

At the Dinner event Senator Tejuoso and other eminent persons received the NMA distinguished service award.
In his closing remarks, the Public Relations Officer of the NMA and Chairman Publicity sub-Committee, Dr. Ernest Ochang, said the NMA Annual General Conference and Delegates Meeting  “is the largest gathering of medical doctors in Africa and the Paradise City 2017 Conference had rich collaborative representations by Association of Nigerian Doctors in America.”
The NMA thanked the Cross River State Governor, Prof Ben Ayade, who was represented by his deputy, Prof Ivara Esu, for the state government’s support throughout the conference.