Reported surge in medical errors and negligence, which has been impacting badly on the health and wellbeing of Nigerians, is hardlysurprising, considering the series of woes regularly afflicting that critical sector. Clearly, the suffocating Nigerian healthcare system is on the brink of collapse. Apart from the medical brain drain caused by constant exodus of the best doctors from Nigeria almost on a daily basis, the surge in medical errors is compounded by inadequate training for health workers, staffing shortages, and poor hospital infrastructure across the 36 states—conditions that is further eroding public confidence in the country’s healthcare sector.
Recent reports indicate that Lagos, Kano, Rivers, Kaduna, and Oyo states have the highest rates of healthcare negligence. In Lagos, overcrowding and equipment shortages have contributed to medical errors. Kano and Rivers face issues with inadequate training and resource deficiencies, while Kaduna struggles with patient misdiagnosis and incorrect treatment. Oyo State’s hospital facilities, infrastructure, and staffing are inadequate. The tragic consequences of these medical errors are severe and far-reaching. Beyond patient mortality, they cause irreparable harm, including anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder for families, permanent disabilities, and a diminished quality of life. The economic burden of medical errors is substantial, with estimates suggesting that preventable errors cost the healthcare system billions of dollars annually.
A pitiable aspect of the situation is that doctors involved in negligence or medical errors are rarely prosecuted, let alone punished to serve as a deterrent to other erring practitioners. The truth is that the country operates in a dysfunctional system that serves as a safe haven for negligent medical practitioners. Nigerians are living in trying times, aggravated by lack of purposeful leadership. The image of Nigeria as a beacon of humanitarianism and moral renaissance has faded. The value placed on human life has diminished. The death of a fellow human being no longer frightens us. While doctors are often victims of overwork and fatigue, medicine has become a profit-driven business. Contrary to the Hippocratic Oath, the motivation of many Nigerian doctors is no longer to save lives but to maximize profit.
For example, Nigeria is the second country in the world with the highest maternal mortality rate. It is also ranked third globally for infant mortality and has overtaken India as the country with the highest number of under-five deaths. In 2018, Nigeria was ranked as one of the most dangerous places in the world for women to give birth. The same year, Nigeria was also listed among the worst-hit countries by malaria and had the highest number of malnourished children globally. Additionally, it ranked first for the highest number of people lacking access to basic primary healthcare.
Today, a sudden death epidemic is sweeping across Nigeria, and life expectancy has drastically reduced to 35 years. Nigerians continue to die from preventable diseases. Most public hospitals suffer from severe shortages of medical equipment, doctors, and personnel. This explains why the primary healthcare system for preventing diseases such as polio, cholera, and measles is virtually non-existent in many parts of Nigeria.
To mitigate the above tragic consequences, government at all levels should declare a state of emergency in the Nigerian health sector. The system must prioritize patient safety, invest in quality improvement initiatives, and foster a culture of transparency and accountability. The first anchor in our strategy to improve the wellbeing of the average Nigerian is to provide the citizenry with unimpeded access to a functional primary healthcare system. By addressing the root causes of medical errors and implementing effective solutions, Nigeria can ensure safer healthcare for its citizens. Urgent attention is required to stem the tide of medical negligence and restore trust in the healthcare system.
The Federal Ministry of Health in Abuja, as well as its counterparts in most states, is in dire need of reform. We need a properly focused Ministry of Health that is committed to tackling the real health challenges affecting Nigerians, not one that appears to undermine the country’s human capital.
Access to affordable healthcare services is a constitutional right, not a privilege. By virtue of Section 17 of the 1999 Constitution, the government is obliged to improve the welfare of Nigerian citizens by ensuring they have access to adequate medical and health facilities. By fulfilling this obligation, the billions of Naira squandered on medical tourism every year could be saved. Primary healthcare and outpatient clinic services in Nigeria should be decentralized to reach suffering and dying women and children in every state, local government, village, and ward community in Nigeria.
Moreover, essential drugs are no longer accessible or affordable for Nigerians suffering from diabetes, kidney failure, prostate cancer, anxiety, depression, hypertension, high blood pressure, and other conditions. Is President Tinubu aware that Nigeria agreed in 2013 to abide by the recommendation of the ECOWAS Committee that drug importation in the African Sub-Region should attract zero percent duty? Is he aware that neighbouring African countries are operating under a zero-tax regime, plus lower port charges, on drug importation in their respective countries? If 80% of the medications consumed in Nigeria are imported, there is no need to impose heavy duties on drug imports.
Our teaching hospitals need to be re-equipped. Comprehensive health insurance schemes should be inaugurated and implemented in all the states of the federation. Doctors and nurses must change their hostile attitudes toward patients. Erring medical doctors, nurses and medical personnel should be brought to justice no matter whose ox is gored.
By virtue of the Hippocratic Oath, which doctors take at their induction, they are obliged to save lives at all times. A few years ago, about 800 Canadian doctors working in Quebec Province staged a protest against their salary increase. The protesting doctors argued that they could not, in good conscience, accept a salary increase while patients “live with a lack of access to required services because of drastic cuts in recent years.” This was a remarkable show of altruism and humanitarianism that Nigerian doctors and nurses should imbibe.
Nevertheless, government at all levels should pay commensurate salaries and welfare packages to medical doctors, nurses, and other healthcare personnel practicing in the country. It makes no sense that while most public hospitals in Nigeria suffer from a shortage of medical practitioners, nurses, and other healthcare personnel, our best doctors, nurses, and medical professionals are excelling abroad in various medical fields.
