Lucky Obukohwo Reporting
The immediate past President of the World Medical Association (WMA), Doctor Osahon Enabulele, has called on the federal government to declare a state of emergency in the healthcare sector following the incessant attacks on its practitioners.
Enabulele who was a guest lecturer at the 2nd induction/oath-taking ceremony of Medical graduates of Edo State University, Uzairue, also decried that despite their frontline roles in the management of injured victims of conflicts/war, physicians and other health professionals are most times the primary victims and are subjected to acts of violence in all regions of the world.
He added that the state of emergency declared must be backed by prioritized investments into the health system, as well as the well-being, working conditions, safety, and security of healthcare workers.
“Despite their critical roles and importance in society, physicians and other members of the health workforce are still subjected to acts of violence which undermine Nigeria’s health care delivery system.
“It has indeed become a
major driver of brain drain of these professionals from Nigeria’s health sector,” he lamented.
“More and more conflict parties violate, with complete impunity, humanitarian law and attack health facilities and health personnel who are usually at the frontline treating victims of conflicts or abuse signs of protection by storing weapons or troops in hospitals or using ambulances for combat purposes”, Enabulele said.
While calling for an investigation into all forms of attacks against health workers and consequent punishment, Enabulele, said that violence against health care workers can be curtailed if various stakeholders, including medical doctors and other health professionals, and their associations, effectively play their roles.
“All attacks against health care, in peace or armed conflicts contexts, must be properly investigated and those responsible must be brought to justice,” he added.
He further called for an “improved security of Nigerians and the Nigerian state; including at workplaces and provision of decent pay and decent working conditions, secured and safe workplace”, Enabulele said.