Association of Nigerian Private Medical Practitioners (ANPMP) has rejected a proposed bill seeking to criminalise or impose sanctions on medical practitioners who fail to attend to emergency patients within a stipulated period.
The bill, sponsored by Senator Abdulaziz Musa Yar’Adua (Katsina Central) and which had since passed second reading, stipulated that healthcare providers or facilities found guilty of willfully neglecting or refusing emergency patients face a fine of up to ₦300,000, imprisonment for up to six months, or both.
They described the proposed legislation by the lawmakers as punitive and potentially counterproductive to effective healthcare delivery.
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The National President of the association, Dr Ernest Chukwuma, said the proposed legislation failed to address the operational challenges confronting healthcare providers and could further undermine the morale of medical practitioners in the country.
Chukwuma, who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State capital, at the weekend, during the association’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting attended by representatives from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, urged the Federal Government to prioritise institutional support for private healthcare providers rather than subjecting them to what he described as excessive regulations and punitive measures.
“How can you hold a doctor responsible for the death of an emergency patient when the doctor has attended to the patient within five minutes, but the pharmacy refuses to release the drugs without payment, or the laboratory refuses to conduct the necessary tests until payment is made?
“The doctor does not have control over those departments. We have not learnt how to treat patients with our saliva or urine. Emergencies are treated with drugs and other medical interventions. If the necessary facilities and support are not available, how do you expect the doctor to save the patient?” he queried.
The association, he said, was awaiting the public hearing on the proposed bill to formally present its position and persuade lawmakers to reconsider the proposed legislation.
Chukwuma urged the National Assembly to abandon the punitive provisions and focus on policies that would strengthen healthcare infrastructure, improve access to essential medical supplies and support both public and private healthcare institutions.
He said private healthcare providers handled more than 65 per cent of patients in Nigeria, stressing that excluding the sector from adequate government support amounted to a major setback in efforts to improve the country’s health indices.
According to him, the meeting was convened to examine ways medical practitioners could contribute to improving healthcare delivery and develop resolutions that would strengthen the health sector and communicate the association’s position to government.
“We also want the government to understand that the private health sector handles more than 65 per cent of patients in this country. Excluding us from government support is a major error, considering the critical role we play in healthcare delivery,” he said.
The ANPMP president lamented that increasing regulatory demands and threats of sanctions had created an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty among private medical practitioners, warning that the situation could negatively affect their productivity and commitment to patient care.
He argued that rather than concentrating on fines, imprisonment and other punitive measures, the government should provide an enabling environment for private hospitals to grow, improve their facilities and deliver quality services.
According to him, “Private healthcare practitioners are working under fear. Every day, there are new regulations and threats that if you do this, you will go to prison, and if you do that, you will be fined. There is hardly any institutional support to help the sector grow.
“Government should create an enabling environment, monitor and evaluate practitioners, and allow the private sector to thrive. Healthcare is too important to be treated this way. If we get the necessary support, we can turn the health sector around.”
Chukwuma maintained that a properly supported private healthcare system would reduce medical tourism, particularly to countries such as India, as Nigerians seeking treatment abroad would have confidence in the capacity of local hospitals to provide quality services.
He said the association remained committed to working with government and other stakeholders to improve the country’s healthcare system, adding that adequate investment in the private health sector would help reverse medical tourism and restore public confidence in Nigeria’s healthcare delivery system.
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