Malaria fever, typhoid, and pregnancy/childbirth care have been identified as top medical conditions for which patients fall victims of sub-standard or quack medical practitioners in Nigeria.
This revelation, contained in a study by NOIPolls Limited, a country-specific polling service in West Africa which works in technical partnership with the Gallup Organisation (USA), to conduct periodic opinion polls and studies on various socio-economic and political issues in Nigeria, revealed that 2 in 10 Nigerians (24 percent) may have been victims or know someone who has been a victim of sub-standard or quack medical practitioners.
While majority (50 percent) of the 24 percent were treated for typhoid/malaria fever, 11 percent of respondents were treated for pregnancy/child delivery care cases, 7 percent treated for headaches, 4 percent were offered treatment for injuries while 3 percent each were treated for heart pain, abortion and eye treatment.
Further breakdown shows that 13 percent were treated for various ailments like skin infections, diabetes, food poisoning, epilepsy, pneumonia, toothache and chicken pox among others.
In recent times, Nigeria has been witnessing an upsurge of quacks in the medical profession, with attendant effects on the physical well-being of the populace and life expectancy of the average Nigerian. While the country is bedevilled with shortage of personnel in the medical profession, it has to deal with persons with no medical background posing as doctors and sending people to graves.
With an estimated number of 72,000 registered medical personnel since the inception of the Medical Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), about 25,000 are currently practising in the country.
In 2013, there were several reports of arrests made by the Nigerian Police Force in various states, especially in Lagos state. The Rivers State chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) had the police arrest 12 quack medical doctors and also had illegal hospitals in the state shut down.
Furthermore, several hospitals in Lagos have been closed down for practising without medical licenses. Other cases include that of Gabriel Onyema and Stephen Nwankwo, who were arrested for causing the deaths of a number of pregnant women, while performing illegal surgical procedures in Lagos.
Despite annual budgetary allocations to the health sector by various levels of government, the sector still grapples with several challenges, poor funding of the health sector, quality of graduates emanating from medical schools, deplorable conditions of health facilities and infrastructure; and poor remuneration and emoluments for medical workers, all these resulting in incessant strikes and labour actions, giving rise to the illegal practice of medicine in the country by individuals.
Sadly, victims experience occasionally end up with bitter tales as majority of respondents (71 percent) admitted that the health conditions of victims become worse after treatments by quack medical practitioners.
Interestingly, majority (79 percent) of respondents answered positively to being aware of the growing prevalence of sub-standard or medical practitioners in Nigeria, while 21 percent of Nigerians said they were not aware of the prevalence.
Osahon Enabulele, national president, Nigerian Medical Association (MNA) said that members of the public need to be more alert to the happenings in their immediate surroundings and inform security agencies if something is amiss.
He advised that when a patient decides to seek medical care at a facility whether it is private or public, the patient should demand to see the credentials of the medical personnel on duty or better still, look at the wall of the hospital to see if any licences are being displayed.
“The public need to be alert especially in situations where patients are dying under strange circumstances or even if they suspect that the doctor may not be genuine, they should report their suspicious to the nearest MDCN office or the NMA office closest to them, and appropriate investigations will be carried out,” Enabulele disclosed.
According to him, patients or their family members should engage the practitioner in some meaningful conversation, as even one’s conversation with the practitioner can give away whether that practitioner is actually a trained practitioner or not.
“If he is not, the task will now be to report to the nearest arm of the MDCN or state branch of the NMA. The high point will be when we are able to operationalise the ICT system we are developing.
“When you have cases that have been mismanaged by some practitioners and suspect that maybe they are not even trained, one can report to the nearest branch of the NMA in the state or the MDCN. It is why we are asking for collaborative effort. The NMA and the public can work together to ensure we cleanse the health landscape of quacks,” he concluded.
By: Alexander Chiejina
