NMA cautions Nigerians against laxity in medical checkups

• Doctors alert to impact of recession on health care

The National President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Dr. Mike Ogirima, has advised the citizens to prevent sudden death by going for medical screening to check their health status.

Ogirima gave the charge at the “Roche diabetes care and Omron BP sensitisation, training and equipping of political appointees against hypertension and diabetes” in conjunction with the Kogi State government at the weekend.

He was represented at the event by the Second Vice President of the association, Dr. Adamu Alhassan Umar.

He commended Kogi State government for providing free medical screening for the public.

He said: “You can only be diagnosed when you go to the hospital for routine checkup. High BP is not actually a bad thing, but knowing you have it is an advantage to know how to take care of it.”

The Special Adviser to the governor on Health Matters, Dr. Ahmed Attah said the programme was organised to sensitise political appointees and members of the public to hypertension and diabetes.

Also, the NMA has alerted to the impact of the economic recession as it affects health care delivery system.

Ogirima told The Guardian yesterday that some of the challenges faced by Nigerians include: low out of pocket purchases of essential health care needs by citizens of Nigeria; infrastructural decay of health facilities across the country; low budgetary provisions by all tiers of government for the health sector.

Others are slow progress of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) through the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS); non-implementation of the National Health Act (NHA 2014) since 2014; and challenges associated with Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) resulting from communal clashes, militancy, kidnappers and other criminal elements.

Ogirima also called on the Federal Government to extend the anti-corruption crusade to all other sectors of the economy as it was done in the judiciary arm of the government.

“It is our belief that if this is extended to the health sector, the little resources available in the sector would be properly utilised to improve the affordability and accessibility of healthcare services to Nigerians passing through the economic recession,” he said.

The NMA president said the decisions were reached as part of activities to mark the 2016 Physicians’ Week, which is holding from October 23 to 29, 2016 at the National Secretariat of the Association, Wuse Zone 4, Abuja.