The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has called on the police and other security agencies in the country to join forces with it to curb quackery in the medical practice.
Dr. Tunji Omotayo, Chairman, NMA, Ekiti chapter, made the appeal at a news conference on Sunday in Ado Ekiti, to mark the 2018 Physicians Week.
He lamented that the menace of quackery had reached an alarming stage that required the full support of all security agencies pointing out that many Nigerians have met their untimely deaths at the hands of quacks.
“The activities of quacks are crippling the medical profession and reducing the quality of practice in the country; quackery is the bane of development of any society or profession, including medical practice.
“It is a danger to the society; patients always commit their lives in the hands of doctors and once they are not saved, then we are all endangered.
“The police must help us in this regard because we have identified some people parading themselves as qualified medical practitioners but were later found to be quacks.
“We reported their cases to the police but surprisingly they were let off the hook. We plead that the police should do more; they must partner with us in this regard because it affects everybody.
“We appeal for cooperation and support of the police and other security agencies in arresting the culprits,” he said.
The theme of this year’s event is: “Medical Quackery and Litigation, Closing the Gap in Polio Eradication and Universal Health Coverage.’’
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Omotayo disclosed that child and maternal mortality in Nigeria was increasing thereby reducing life expectancy of the people, because of the disparity in accessing quality healthcare delivery in the country.
He called for full implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) across the states to achieve universal health coverage and appealed also to the Ekiti Government to implement the State Insurance Health Scheme (SHIS) without further delay, to ease the sufferings of the masses who patronise quacks as their last resort.
“The SHIS bill was signed into law under former -Governor Ayodele Fayose, but we have to go beyond this and move to the level of implementation.
“We also frown at the lingering crisis rocking the NHIS and we urge the Federal Government to intervene appropriately to restore peace and stability to the agency for it to deliver on its mandate,” he said.
Omotayo congratulated Ekiti new governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, on election success, assuring him that NMA would partner with his administration to reposition the health sector in the state.”
