CRIES TO CONCEAL DOCTORS' CRIMES, MY RESPONSE!

Lately, I have been under intense pressure to refrain from going public with doctors' infractions. And I have been severally admonished to retain such issues in the house as exclusive "family matters". Now my response to my various "counsellors":

What is so "in-house" about fraud? Must we launder fraud on the altar of keeping things "domestic"? When there is fraud...or alleged fraud in a REGISTERED ASSOCIATION, infractions so committed are deemed to be against the state!....thus requiring PUBLIC SCRUTINY and PROSECUTION! Definitely more than a mere mention. And when will we stop finding more fault with mere "groaners" than the felons who cause them to groan? Must the fact of felony pale in significance to the choice of fora in which it is cited? Must dirty linen remain sodden for fear of washing it in public? My points are clear....and I require no admonition on the propriety of where I choose to groan! It is more shameful that doctors are now deft at fraud! This same nauseating scenario plays itself out in our general polity...where corruption not only holds sway....but we idolize it, praise and reward corrupt politicians but villify those who choose to be different! This is the court of public opinion... Must corruption be so endemic in our nation....that the rest of the world tremble at sighting us?

It is actually this wierd determinism to treat fraud as a "domestic affair" by doctors that is causing us the real ridicule!

Nothing in medical spheres is really within the sole prerogative of doctors to deal with....and we never dealt with them! Neither will we be collectively committed to dealing with them exclusively as "family matters". Note that when the MDCN finds it necessary to prosecute doctors, its trial sessions are public. Only the membership of its tribunals are to a large extent, medical. I have spent a large part of my professional life admonishing doctors by raising issues at meetings....as a floor member....and as an officer of our association. These efforts have been in vain! And when our trainers ignore merit and admit residents on the basis of their introductory letters....or retain subjective exam methods so as to manipulate exam results, such state of affairs endangers the health of the citizenry! And if our cries in medical circles fall on deaf ears, we must tell the story to the people. Most private hospitals for instance, now employ male nurses, or even male auxiliary staff to act as doctors. Some make do with CHOs. Most doctors pay and receive kickbacks! The situation was not this bad. Perhaps we kept these matters too long.....as "family affairs"!

Dr Tosin Akindele is a Lagos-based medical practitioner, good health advocate and social critic.

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Articles by Tosin Akindele