The
Nigerian Medical Association has said that corruption among those in
leadership position is responsible for poor infrastructure in hospitals,
resulting in poor health indices and the consequent low life expectancy
in the country.
The Chairman of the Osun State branch of
the NMA, Dr. Anthony Onipede, said this in Osogbo on Tuesday at a
lecture to mark the 2013 Physician Week.
The NMA had earlier visited the House of Assembly where medical checks were carried out on the lawmakers.
Onipede’s position was also corroborated by Dr. M. Adetoki, in a lecture he delivered as part of activities marking the week.
Onipede, who attributed the poor
infrastructure to the lack of funds, said, “Is it ethical when rulers
appropriate mind-boggling resources to themselves, even when hospital
workers have to go on strike in protest against poor infrastructure and
lack of tools to work with?”
In his paper, Adetoki noted that the
problem “appears worse at the primary health centres, which are under
the control of the local government.”
He argued that “the limited resources
are often misappropriated and sometimes embezzled outright, to the
extent that they do not serve the purposes for which they were
appropriated.”
The physicians called on government at
all levels to curb corruption, so that Nigerians can have unbridled
access to affordable health care.
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