Declare Attacks On Healthcare Workers National Emergency

Former president of the World Medical Association (WMA), Doctor Osahon Enabulele, has warned that if the future of Nigeria’s healthcare system is to be secured, acts of violence against healthcare workers must be declared as a national emergency.

He added that the state of emergency declared must be backed by prioritised investments into the health system, as well as the well-being, working conditions, safety and security of healthcare workers.

Enabulele who was a guest lecturer at the second induction/oath-taking ceremony of medical graduates of the Edo State University, Uzairue, said despite their frontline roles in the management of injured victims of conflicts/war, physicians and other health professionals are most times the primary victims and subjected to acts of violence in all regions of the world.

“It has indeed become a major driver of brain drain of these professionals from Nigeria’s health sector.

“More and more conflict parties violate, with complete impunity, humanitarian law and attack health facilities and health personnel who are usually at the frontline treating victims of conflicts or abuse signs of protection by storing weapons or troops in hospitals or using ambulances for combat purposes,” he said.

While calling for an investigation into all forms of attacks against health workers and consequent punishment, said violence against health care workers can be stemmed if various stakeholders, including medical doctors and other health professionals, and their associations, effectively play their roles.