Dr. Lanre Ogunyemi, President of the Society of Occupational Medicine UK, has urged the Federal Government to adopt legislation that mandates occupational health for all workers in Nigeria.
He asserted that enacting such a law would significantly enhance occupational health for employees and boost productivity and the economy. The proposed legislation would allow for proper penalties against employers who neglect the health and safety of their workers.
Dr. Ogunyemi made these remarks during a workshop focused on occupational health for primary healthcare workers, organized by the Society of Occupational Medicine UK in partnership with the Society of Occupational and Environmental Health Physicians of Nigeria and the College of Medicine at the University of Ibadan in Ibadan.
As a consultant in occupational medicine, Ogunyemi emphasized that the introduction and enforcement of occupational health legislation would shift the responsibility for employee health and safety to employers, ensuring that workers, especially those in the healthcare sector, are safer and experience improved well-being.
According to him, “Healthcare workers are the ones at the front line in terms of helping the community, and if they are not able to learn how to protect their own health, then it’s difficult for them to be productive, for them to be able to prevent illness, protect their own illness, and for them to have a long working life span.
“I wouldn’t quantitatively rate where we are in terms of occupational health, but we’re way behind developed countries. And what we can do is try and improve where we are at the moment. It is something that needs massive help and input from Diaspora.
“So I would appeal to my colleagues in Diaspora not to neglect where they come from but to come and do what they can to help occupational health in Nigeria. We know it’s a challenging societal environment.”
Professor Folasade Omokhodion announced that the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care is committed to enhancing the global health workforce, offering grants to support this effort, particularly in Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana.
She revealed that a baseline survey of primary healthcare workers, part of the “Occupational Health for Health Care Workers” program, showed that these workers are highly susceptible to various occupational health issues.
“Post the COVID pandemic, it became very obvious that health care workers are vulnerable. That was the beginning of the realisation that health care workers, no matter their status, are at risk. Not just from infection, there is the psychosocial problem of dealing with life and death.
“So, we decided to use the opportunity of this training grant to start this programme in Oyo State. And we are hoping that we can take it across the country.
“Prior to this, we had done a baseline survey to find out what the occupational health problems of primary health care workers are. The findings were that some health care workers are still recapping needles. About a quarter of them have not had the immunisation for hepatitis B.
“They also had issues about knowledge on safety practices in the workplace. And, of course, one of the major things was that fire safety was almost nil.
“So this programme is teaching primary health care workers how to make themselves fit for purpose, fit for the job so that they are strong, they can protect themselves, and they are well-equipped to deliver their jobs and help the community.”
