Experts seek end to medical negligence

Medical and legal experts have called for an end to negligence in the country’s health system to curb the rising mortality, occasioned by healthcare professionals and improper administration of care in hospitals.
   
They made the call during a medico-legal seminar organised by Mahuemolen Aduke Odibo Foundation (MAOF) themed: “The right of a patient to a second medical opinion and the role of communication in rising healthcare quality.”
   
In her address, the Vice Chairman, Board of Trustees, MAOF, Omobola Fashola, said many promising lives have been cut short, due to medical negligence occasioned by lack of medical oxygen, suction machine and improper administration of professional care, among others.

“The healthcare system has to go through the process of transformation and reinvention, so that hospitals are more accountable. There should be a checklist for the different processes and steps of the hospital procedures, then people can be diligent in how they implement their task,” she said.
 
The founder, MAOF, Barrister Cecilia Odibo, said the foundation, created in memory of her late daughter, Mahuemolen Aduke Odibo, who died from medical negligence, held the conference to address the vacuum identified in the healthcare system and a burning desire to ensure quality service delivery in healthcare management, as well as ensuring accountability, transparency and prompt delivery.
     
She said the unnecessary loss of beloved ones in various medical facilities in Nigeria can be stopped or reduced to its barest minimum, if patients exercise their rights to have a second medical opinion, as enshrined in medical laws.