The Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, Ebonyi State chapter yesterday lamented the increase in operations of fake doctors in the state.
It called on the state lawmakers to urgently pass into law the “Medical Anti-Quackery Bill”.
The chairman of the association, Dr. Austin Ikwudinma made this known in Abakaliki during a “Road Walk” organized by the Association to sensitize the citizenry on routine immunization, as part of activities marking its 2017 Physician Week.
He said that the passage of the bill will also enable them to stem the upsurge in maternal/child morbidity in the State.
The chairman said, “medical quackery is a very serious issue; the State NMA has declared war against medical quackery, we have presented a bill to the House of Assembly since 2012 and no action has been taken.
“There is no law to prosecute quacks who have infiltrated the medical profession, how can you prosecute them since there is no existing law to prosecute offenders,”he lamented.
“We have gone behind the scene and we are told we have not done the needful, are we going to pay anything extra apart from the one we paid earlier, when the bill is passed into law, is it for NMA interest, our members can never fall into the hands of quack, it is for the poor masses.
“In July 2017, we clamped down on a medical outfit purportedly managed by a quack in Afikpo community of the State called “Victory Hospital” and closed the hospital, but the fake doctor escaped through the fence, the doctor was protected by the villagers.
“Government needs to act more and members of the State House of Assembly needs to wake up to their responsibilities by offering quality representation, and the protection of lives of the citizenry,”he submitted.
The NMA boss expressed worry over the purported rumour of injecting unapproved vaccine in children across the country, maintaining that it was difficult now to carry out any form of immunization as parents and caregivers had opposed any form of immunization on their children/wards.
Comentarios