Lawmakers Investigate Avoidable Deaths, Disability Caused by Medical Practitioners

Udora Orizu in Abuja

The House of Representatives has resolved to investigate the causes of deaths and permanent disability resulting from negligence of medical practitioners in Nigeria.

The lawmakers, therefore, urged the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) and other disciplinary bodies saddled with the responsibility of carrying out preliminary investigations of any allegation of infamous conduct against a medical practitioner to forward the case to the tribunal for trial in line with the provision of Section 16(2) of the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act.

The resolution followed the adoption of a motion sponsored by Hon. Jude Ogbeche Ngaji, at the plenary, yesterday.

Moving the motion, Ngaji noted that the increase in the report of medical negligence in Nigeria is principally attributed to lack of sufficient medical practitioners and infrastructure in the health sector.

He also noted that despite the increasing number of victims, there has been a low level of formal complaints and lawsuits for compensation due to ignorance, poverty, and in some cases, reluctance to seek redress against the offending medical practitioner.

He said that the House is aware that the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act, 2004 established Investigating Panel and Disciplinary Tribunal, where the panel is charged with carrying out preliminary investigations of any allegation of infamous conduct professionally made against a medical practitioner, and where such allegations have merit, the panel would forward the case to the tribunal for trial.

The lawmaker said: “Also aware that medical negligence is the failure of a medical practitioner to exercise reasonable care in the course of discharging professional duty, thus, a registered practitioner who fails to

exercise the skill or act with the degree of care expected of his experience and status in the course of attending to patients may be liable to professional negligence under the Code of Medical Ethics in Nigeria, which includes failure to attend promptly to a patient requiring urgent attention when the practitioner was in a position to do so; a manifestation of incompetence in the assessment of a patient; making an incorrect diagnosis particularly when the clinical features were so glaring that no reasonable skillful practitioner could have failed to notice them.

“Failure to advise, or proffering wrong advice to a patient on the risk involved in a particular operation or course of treatment, especially if such an operation or course of treatment is likely to result in serious side effect like deformity or loss of an organ; failure to obtain the consent of the patient (informed or otherwise) before proceeding with any surgical procedure or course of treatment, when such consent was necessary; making a mistake in treatment e.g. amputation of the wrong limb, inadvertent termination of a pregnancy, prescribing the wrong drug in error for a correctly diagnosed ailment, etc; failure to refer or transfer a patient in good time when such a referral or transfer was necessary; failure to do anything that ought reasonably to have been done under any circumstance for the good of the patient; and failure to see a patient as often as his medical condition warrants or to make proper notes of the practitioner’s observations and prescribed treatment during such visits or to communicate with the patient or his relation as may be necessary with regards to any developments, progress or prognosis in the patient’s condition.”

Adopting the motion, the House mandated its Committee on Healthcare Services to ensure compliance.

Also at the plenary, the lawmakers adopting a motion sponsored by Hon. Ben Igbakpa, mandated its Committee on Basic Education and Services to investigate the delay in the payment of recently recruited teachers in Federal Government Colleges in Delta State, with a view to proffering solutions to avoid a similar occurrence in the future.

It urged the Federal Civil Service Commission to, as a matter of urgency, to ensure that the teachers who were recruited into Federal Government Colleges in Delta State in 2018 were paid their full salaries and all entitlements due to them.