Senators and the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) engaged in a hot exchange of words on Monday over the propriety or otherwise of criminalising health institutions which refuse to handle emergency cases.
The disagreement happened during the public hearing organized by the Senate Committee on Health on the new health bill.
Section 20 of the controversial bill recommends six months imprisonment or N100,000 fine for any medical doctor who fails to treat emergency cases for any reason.
But the sponsor of the bill, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, who is also the Chairman of the Committee on Health, declared that saving lives at emergency situations should be a paramount factor.
However, in the presentation of NMA at the one day public hearing, Dr. Osahon Enabulele argued that if the bill seeks to punish refusal to treat emergency cases, the bill should also state categorically who foots the bill.
In his presentation before the committee, the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, however doused the tension as he stated that the Federal Government would make budgetary provision for emergency situation.
Speaking during the public hearing, Senate President, Senator David Mark, appealed to all stakeholders in the health sector to close rank and work toward the passage of the health bill into law.
Mark, who was represented by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, expressed dissatisfaction with huge amount of money Nigerians always spend in foreign countries on medical treatment, saying the country cannot continue to spend huge amount of money on medical treatment in foreign countries.
“I will like to appeal to all sectors (various professionals) in the health sector to close ranks and work together and ensure that this bill is passed into law. Because most times you hear that the doctors are having problems with the pharmacists or nurses are in disagreement with other professionals in the sector.
“I am aware that Nigerians continue to go abroad for medical treatment. It’s not only the rich, even the poor do so because churches contribute money to send people abroad for treatment, families contribute money, communities contribute money to send their relations abroad for treatment.
“And we cannot continue that way. We need to refocus our health sector, we need to reform our health sector so that all those money that are being spent going abroad for treatment are spent here in Nigeria and that our brothers and sisters who are experts all over the world would come back to Nigeria and establish to help us run a perfect healthcare system.
“And if you go abroad you will see that most of the medical experts abroad are Nigerians. And I think that there is need for sufficient education on all the health components to remove the ignorance and bias of our people,” he said.
