Doctors Harp On Improved Service Delivery

President of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) in the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Dr. Joab Otokwala, has called on government at all levels to make healthcare facilities available and acessible in the country.

Otokwala who stressed the need for government to make modern healthcare facilities available, affordable and accessible in order to reduce maternal mortality in the country, lamented over the poor state of healthcare facilities and its inaccessibility by patients, and blamed the development on ignorance and poverty in the rural communities.

He lauded the Rivers State Government in its efforts at providing affordable healthcare services, particularly building of health centres in the 23 Local Government Areas of the state, saying that the health centres reduce the cost of some health care services among the rural dwellers and also check the rate of deaths among pregnant women.

“The Governor has really tried by siting health centres in every ward. This is going to create some accessibility to the people”, he said.

He further blamed the high rate of fatalities among pregnant women on the patronage of quacks and traditional medicine practitioners and expressed the hope that these “unwholesome practitioners” would be put out of business.

In a related development, the Vice President of the ARD, Dr. Okechukwu Imeji, has described the high patronage of traditional medicine practitioners as disturbing.

He noted that the trend was worrisome in that they cause more harm than good to the populace, while urging the government to increase enlightenment campaigns on the need for people to consult trained medical personnel for their health services.

He also called for an immediate ban on Television and Radio herbal practitioners who who claim to have one herbal preparation that cures multiple diseases, including HIV/AIDS and diabetes.

Commenting on the issue, a member of the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria, Dr. Stanley Chukwuka, said that the development was sad since some people do not understand that herbal medicine practitioners cannot satify their health needs.

He stressed the need for government to ban them from advertising, and their activities regulated.

“They require some regulations to curb their excesses, they should be stopped from advertising. We in orthodox practice are not allowed to advertise, your work will advertise you so the same should go for traditional medicine practitioners”, he added.

Tonye Nria-Dappa