The Nigerian Medical Association has vowed to eradicate corruption within the healthcare system, ensuring a high standard of ethics among healthcare workers.
During a recent media conference in Abuja, Professor Bala Audu, the National President of NMA, emphasized this commitment to integrity.
A recent report titled ‘Corruption in Nigeria: Patterns and Trends Report’, jointly published by the National Bureau of Statistics and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, shed light on corrupt practices within the health sector.
The report revealed that a significant percentage of Nigerians had contact with public officials, particularly healthcare professionals, with some incidents involving bribery.
The statistics outlined in the report indicated that a substantial number of Nigerians had interactions with healthcare workers, with a small percentage being subjected to bribery attempts.
Professor Audu expressed concern over this data, emphasizing the need for concerted efforts to eliminate such unethical behavior within the healthcare system.
“We believe that this figure is very worrisome and we are concerned about it and we are taking every measure to ensure that this is reduced to zero.
“However, it is important to point out that these figures show that the health sector, the provision particularly of care by doctors and nurses in the public sector is the least corruptible in this country.
“This is because the figures show that only 12 per cent are involved in this and it is the lowest figure for all public sectors in this country.”
Professor Audu was thrilled to note that doctors and nurses delivered the largest share of services among all public sector services to adult Nigerians.
He pointed out that the statistics only accounted for adult Nigerians, implying that the number of children and pediatric cases treated by doctors and nurses was not included, and therefore, the actual impact of healthcare professionals was even more extensive.
He noted, “The statistics showed that 30 per cent of adult Nigerians access services of doctors and nurses in the public sector without having to pay a bribe of any sort because the focus of the study was a study on corruption.’’
According to the NMA national president, the 34% figure signifies the notable proportion of services and interactions provided by doctors and nurses to Nigerians.
He emphasized that despite the challenges posed by brain drain, doctors and nurses deserve recognition and appreciation for their dedication and availability to serve the population.
He stated, “We are still the ones that are able to provide the highest level of care to Nigerians compared to any public sector in this country and we are the ones that have the least level of a tendency to be corruptible.
“It is a very common practice in our public health settings to see doctors and nurses actually contribute money in order to help indigent patients but this is often not reflected and I think there is also a need to paint that other side of the picture.
“There are also a number of private health facilities in this country that offer services to indigent patients when they cannot afford it, I think we also need research to bring that to light.”
Professor Audu praised the report, noting that it was valuable for comparative analysis to motivate high-performing individuals and institutions to further improve.
He also expressed the NMA’s interest in expanding the scope of the study to include both private and public facilities, rather than just public facilities, to gain a more comprehensive understanding.
Audu stated, “This is another thing the NMA wants to do on its own, but we are commenting on this because these organisations are highly respectable ones.
“We have to take seriously whatever comes from NBS and UNODC that is why we are taking this report very seriously.
“Our seriousness in taking this report is not to deny, but to find the root cause of the problem so that even though we are the ones doing the best, we want to make corruption come to zero.”
According to Naijatraffic, this survey is the third installment of the Nigeria Corruption Survey, representing a crucial step forward in Nigeria’s continuous fight against corruption.
