The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has cautioned Nigerians against harassing or intimidating healthcare workers, stressing that medical personnel should not be blamed for every death recorded in hospitals.
NMA President, Prof. Afekhide-Ernest Omoti, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday.
Omoti said harassment and intimidation of healthcare workers had been a recurring problem in the past, but perpetrators could now face prosecution under the National Policy Against Intimidation and Harassment of Healthcare Workers.
He said the issue gained renewed attention following an incident in Akwa Ibom, prompting the NMA to engage the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare on the growing trend.
According to Omoti, he represented doctors on a committee established by the ministry to examine the issue, with the committee eventually submitting its report and paving the way for the new policy.
He explained that the policy places responsibility on hospitals to provide adequate security for healthcare workers and prevent harassment and violence within their facilities.
“The hospitals are to ensure that whoever does such an act is adequately prosecuted, and the person or group of people pays adequate compensation to the healthcare workers,” he said.
Omoti added that the policy also defines the responsibilities of healthcare professionals towards patients and has contributed to a significant decline in reported cases.
He recalled that before the policy was introduced, incidents of harassment reportedly occurred several times a month, with security personnel, patients and relatives among those involved.
The NMA president stressed that no individual had the right to assault healthcare workers or destroy their property.
He said some healthcare workers had even been followed to their vehicles, where their cars were vandalised following disputes arising from patients’ deaths.
According to Omoti, grief and emotional distress following the loss of relatives often drive some family members to direct their anger at doctors, mistakenly believing that medical personnel were responsible for the deaths.
He explained that many patients who die in hospitals arrive in critical condition, adding that efforts to resuscitate severely ill patients do not always succeed.
Omoti stressed that the inability to save a critically ill patient was not peculiar to Nigeria, but a reality faced by healthcare systems around the world.
He said while harassment of healthcare workers had existed for many years, the increasing frequency of attacks against doctors and, in some cases, nurses was a more recent development.
To improve security and accountability, Omoti said hospitals had begun installing Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras to monitor their facilities and provide evidence when incidents occur.
He advocated wider deployment of CCTV cameras, particularly in emergency units where tensions can escalate quickly.
The NMA president also called for increased public education to help patients and their relatives understand hospital procedures and the realities of medical care, saying better awareness could reduce misconceptions and confrontations involving healthcare workers.
