The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), recently held its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting from the 20th to the 24th of August in Maiduguri. The entire country’s doctors were represented at its business sessions to discuss topical issues which affect the very fabric of the medical profession. The conference’s theme was “Looking inwards: The Role of Government and Health Institutions in curbing health tourism.” With other sub-themes on the table, a lot of issues came up for discussion such as the ever high prevalence of kidney diseases as a challenge in contemporary medicine in the country. In an interview with this reporter, the new President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) Professor Bala Audu spoke to Sam Kayode and reeled out what to him was his take-home during the just concluded conference held at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH).
Give us a low down of what to you were the salient issues at the just concluded conference here in UMTH
Well to me, we have at least four to five take-homes. The first is what we saw in the efforts of the government of Borno State, under the leadership of His Excellency, Professor Babagana Zulum, in ensuring that high-quality patient-centred care is provided for the citizens of the state and in fully supporting the health workforce in such a way that training is ensured, their remuneration is ensured, and the same with that at federal level, so that the workforce for health is retained to provide the much-needed quality health care for the citizens of the state. And that is why they have, I will not say enough, doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers catering for this state, and I believe it will even attract people from other states. The takeaway on this is that on the first one, the governors of other states can also implement all the welfare packages that are implemented at the federal level, in their states, and even improve above it.
The second take home came from themes and the sub-themes of our conference, which centered around the issue of medical tourism, chronic renal diseases and the use of Artificial Intelligence and other related technologies in healthcare delivery.
We saw the great work that is being done at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), which was showcased by his excellency, and it showed that it is possible to provide the highest level of standard care in this country. It showed also that with the right kind of support, Nigerians don’t have to travel outside of this country to seek healthcare. It clearly showed that with the right kind of support to both the public sector as well as the private sector, we can reach a level of healthcare delivery that people will be coming from other countries to seek medical care in this country, thereby reducing poverty, improving employment of our citizens and improving the quality of healthcare.
We also had discussions that showed that there is an increasing high prevalence of diseases. Take home to us was the need for us as NMA to partner with federal and State governments to make sure we conduct service that will collect the relevant data on not just chronic renal disease, but other chronic non-communicable diseases so that we can do appropriate planning to ensure that the clinical management of the disease is put in place and also to prevent their occurrences, or at least reduce them. We also had this take home on the use of artificial intelligence and technologies, which shows that the whole world, at least the developed part of the world, is moving fast towards the use of artificial intelligence and other related technologies in deploring effective healthcare services. The takeaway for us here is that we have to start early so that we are not left behind in this race.
The third component of our take home is that at the end of our meeting, we all came to the conclusion that indeed, Nigerian doctors and other health practitioners who have decided, out of choice, dedication and patriotism to stay back in the country and take care of the health of our brothers and sisters, our fellow citizens, are working extra hard and overburdened with the work they have to do, but yet they remain resolute, and we reaffirmed our dedication to remaining resolved to stay back home and salvage the situation, and work one has to put in both private and public settings. With this resolution, our take home is to go back to the government and discuss in a mutually respectable and beneficial dialogue to improve the working conditions of Nigerian doctors and other healthcare professionals that will counteract the offers that other countries are giving them so that we can retain our health workforce and continue to do the Good work we are doing for this country.