Summit opens to address negligence in health care

At least 67 speakers are slated for a national summit of doctors to highlight the negligence that patients suffer in the health sector.

President Muhamadu Buhari is slated to declare open on Tuesday the second-ever National Health Summit of the Nigerian Medical Association to be chaired by former head of state Gen Yakubu Gowon.

Themed “patient-centred care”, the summit comes amidst concern over poor treatment of patient resulting in inadequate health outcomes.

“The patient is the centre of health care, so all those rivalry among health care workers are taking us from the primary focus,” said NMA president Dr Francis Faduyile.

“We’ll be through to see how we can change the narrative in Nigeria to the patient.”

“Negligence in Nigerian hospitals is a problem, and we must put in concerted effort to clear negligence in this country,” he added.

At a briefing on Monday ahead of the summit, he said the health sector faced “total system failure” if its challenges are not addressed adequately.

“We don’t have enough people, we don’t have enough equipment, the government is not putting up facilities,” he noted.

The maiden edition of the NMA summit in 2013 is credited for catalysing the actualisation of the National Health Act signed into law in 2014.