“In particular the failure to establish world class health system is a major factor causing the retardation of Nigeria’s development,” said NMA president Dr Kayode Obembe.
Nigeria’s failure to score any “impressive mark” has kept it ranked low on indices for global human development and health, the Nigerian Medical Association said Wednesday.
In a statement marking Nigeria’s 50th Independence anniversary, NMA said the country had “never lacked effective recommendations to mitigate our crippling socio-economic, political and developmental woes but poor leadership and poor implementation have been responsible for the uninspiring status of the nation in the global development circle.”
“In particular the failure to establish world class health system is a major factor causing the retardation of Nigeria’s development,” said NMA president Dr Kayode Obembe.
The association has also appealed for President Muhammadu Buhari’s government to reverse the dissolution of the Medical & Dental Council of Nigeria, insisting the “damage done to medical practice in the country in the absence of the regulatory body is colossal and almost irreversible.”
“Nigeria perhaps could be the only country that allows the practice of medicine to go on without regulation even for one day,” Obembe lamented.
The association also wants a presidential directive exempting MDCN from dissolution.
NMA similarly called for speedy implementation of recommendations set forth by the Mahmud Yayale Ahmed-led Committee on Inter-Professional Relationships in the Public Health Sector.
NMA said the “pedigree and track record of the committee members and thoroughness of their activities strongly suggest that they would not have misdirected the nation.”
By Judd–Leonard Okafor
DAILY TRUST
