These were the very strong words of the Minister of Health, Professor Osotimehin at the inauguration of the Governing Boards of Federal Hospitals, Professional Regulatory Agencies, and other parastatals of the Ministry of Health in Abuja.…as reported by the Daily Trust
Who was this directed to? The doctors and nurses paid to save our lives!
Finally….someone has the courage to speak out.
Try walking into a public hospital in Nigeria these days….one cannot help than to be shocked at how slow any one responds to anything. It really does not matter if you are bleeding from your aorta…nothing, nothing brings out the sence of urgency. Finally the gauntlet has been dropped.
…accusing them of habitually abandoning their patients for personal pleasures.
…government could no longer afford to sit by and watch health professionals in hospitals treat patients with ignominy for a job they had sworn to perform and were paid to perform.
…the insensitive attitude has led to many patients seeking alternative care to the detriment of the once-robust healthcare system in the country.
….We have come to a point where doctors on call are not just found; nurses do not perform their duties; and other health workers do not think that they have a duty at all.
… it is our duty to entrench discipline if our health system must go back to what it used to be.
…He challenged professional regulatory bodies to wake up to their responsibilities as the Boards should help hospital management take a new direction in healthcare delivery.
But finally…are these empty words or prelude to real change..only time will tell.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed people can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has…Margaret Mead