Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa Move To Tackle Medical Quackery

The governments of Bauchi, Gombe and Jigawa States have adopted proactive regulations and monitoring mechanisms to end medical quackery to fast-track quality healthcare service delivery in the states.

Officials of health agencies and other stakeholders said the measure was imperative to sanitise the medical profession, end malpractices and safeguard public health in the respective states.

The health experts spoke in separate interviews in Bauchi, Gombe and Dutse in reaction to a survey on monitoring and regulation of health facilities by government agencies.

Quackery is the practice that involves false knowledge of a particular field. The Nigerian health sector is said to be infested by quackery under the guise of medical doctors, nurses and other health personnel.

According to the experts, quackery is one of the major problems bedevilling Nigeria’s health sector despite its negative consequences.

The experts listed some of the negative impacts including increased maternal and childhood mortality; increased unemployment rate of registered nurses and midwifery, discredited medical and nursing education, poor treatment outcomes and a weakened healthcare system.

To address the menace, the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) in Bauchi State, constituted an anti-quackery committee to enhance monitoring of public and private clinics.

The NMA’s Secretary, Dr Abdullahi Kabir, said the measure would enhance access to quality healthcare service delivery at the grassroots.

He said the committee was mandated to investigate alleged malpractices and report to the state Ministry of Health for appropriate action.

“The association set up a sub-committee saddled with the responsibility to seek public and staff opinion on the operations of private clinics.