The Anap Foundation says Nigeria has no time to waste in its fight against the deadly COVID-19 pandemic and so cannot afford the current face-off between the government and the country’s medical association.
While commending the dedication of front-line health workers in tackling the pandemic despite very difficult working conditions, it also commends the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) for its April 10, 2020, circular cautioning state governors against relaxing guidelines on mass gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a statement issued by Anap foundation’s Covid-19 think tank led by Atedo Peterside and Abubakar Siddique Mohammed, “Nigeria has an adverse doctor to population ratio (4:10,000) compared to South Africa (9:10,000) and has suffered the depletion of healthcare workers and degradation of the country’s healthcare capabilities over decades.
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“Nigeria is now faced with a pandemic of unprecedented proportions that has devastated people and economies across the globe. It is for these reasons and more, that the April 5 and April 9, 2020 statements from the NMA are worrying.”
The statement said the opposing positions of the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) and the NMA on the involvement of foreign physicians and healthcare workers (whatever may be the pros and cons of the current Chinese intervention) to combat COVID-19 were not in the interest of the Nigerian public.
The foundation said it “expects close monitoring of all foreign personnel while in the country for the safety of the foreign team and above all, Nigeria’s own sovereignty.
“The Anap COVID-19 Team calls on the Federal Government and the FMOH to engage with the NMA immediately on the serious concerns and recommendations made by the NMA in its statements. We urge the NMA to review its positions and remain open and strategic about managing all offers to support Nigeria’s medical capacity to beat the deadly COVID-19.
“Nigeria’s success is dependent on the engagement and alignment of all relevant healthcare industry stakeholders on the urgency at hand.
“The FMOH and the NMA are indispensable to driving and executing healthcare strategy in Nigeria. Strategic alignment of purpose, transparent communication, close collaboration and collective accountability is essential to the successful delivery in times of stability, and even more so in times of crisis such as now.
“We need the FMOH and the NMA to collaborate at this critical time otherwise the Nigerian people will be victims of this failure of leadership within the healthcare sector.”
