Nigeria’s provision for emergency care ambiguous —NMA

President, Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Dr Francis Faduyile, says Nigeria’s policy on emergency care for patients with difficulty in proper identification is ambiguous, leaving many dead within a short time of arrival at government hospitals.

Faduyile, in his address at the opening of the 2019 Physicians’ Week in Ibadan on Tuesday, stated that five years after the provision of fund for emergency care by the National Health Act, its disbursement procedure is largely ambiguous.

Speaking through the vice-chairman of the Oyo State branch NMA, Dr Ayotunde Fasunla, he added: “The NMA is perplexed that the Federal Ministry of Health is concentrating on purchasing ambulances rather than rolling out mechanisms that are all-encompassing and would address all the critical aspects of emergency care services.

“There is a need for an enduring and unambiguous policy statement that takes into consideration the critical aspects of the care of emergencies and most importantly this group of patients (unknown patients).”

On the increasing incidence of suicide in Nigeria, he called on government and all stakeholders to partner with NMA in ensuring relevant social support, including affordable care, for Nigerians struggling with all mental health challenges.

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Faduyile appealed to government at all levels to be more responsive to the welfare of Nigerian physicians amid various challenges, including incessant harassment, kidnapping in the line of duty, abysmal physician-to-patient ratio and increased brain drain.

Dr Victor Akinmoladun, chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, University College Hospital, in his lecture titled ‘Care of the Unknown Patient: Policy Overview and Review’ said UCH, Ibadan, attends to an average of 10 unknown patients per month.

Akinmoladun said funding is the biggest challenge in managing the unknown patients at the hospital and that between 2017 and 2018, UCH spent about N37 million on the care of these patients with attendant difficulty in proper identification.

He added, “the policy is that you cannot send back a patient in an emergency situation because he does not have money; you must attend to them all.”

He stated that Nigeria does not have any precise policy to deal with the issue of the unknown patient and their care continues to be a major challenge for health institutions.

Dr Akinmoladun, therefore, asked the NMA to become a voice for unknown patients by ensuring that Nigeria’s policy on funding for emergency care becomes operational.

Dr Diran Olabisi, the event’s chairman, stated that care of patients with attendant difficulty in proper identification, what is termed ‘unknown patients’, is a big challenge faced daily in many government hospitals.

He, therefore, called for a lasting solution to it from the National Council on Health, saying Nigerians shouldn’t be allowed to suffer because nobody knows them when they were brought to the hospital unconscious for medical care.