As HMO Health calls for quality and affordable health service delivery for Nigerians amid hard times
Empowering medical officers with robust ethical training and certification is pivotal to transforming the nation’s healthcare landscape and ensuring exceptional patients care.
A health consultant, Rev. Fr. Mathew Ugorji made the remarks during a webinar on the 24th of October, 2024 with the topic “Medical Ethics and The Delivery of Quality Care” organised by SUNU Health Nigerian Ltd, a leading Health Maintenance Organisation (HMO) participating in Nigeria’s health insurance programme.
Father Ugorji, the director of Jesuit Centre, Benin City, Edo State believed that a healthcare professional who is grounded in sound ethics and morality will
naturally prioritise patients’ well-being, respecting their rights and dignity, while avoiding unnecessary litigations.
The priest condemned the fact that some health professionals are more conscious of monetary gains than the delivery of quality service, believing that such unethical conduct would be checked if health workers were properly taught and certified on sound ethics and morality.
He said “A successful medical practitioner must have a working knowledge of not only the law and ethics, but also of morality and protocol in the medical profession. He or she must understand that the pillar of successful practice rests on courtesy, compassion, and common sense.
“According to Prof. O. J. Odia & A. R. George, 2015, the following are qualities that a medical practitioner must try to possess-courtesy, good listening skills, good communication skills, empathy for the patients and their relatives, polities and friendly attitude, ability to keep medical information confidential no matter the circumstances, must be willing to learn, relate will with colleagues and other members of the health team.”
Ugorji emphasised that “In this 21st Century, any existing significant knowledge gap of medical professionals regarding law and ethics on medical practice will seriously jeopardize the provision of quality care and should be considered an aberration in medical training and formation.
“Therefore, I recommend that the medical profession must adequately address ethical issues in medical and public health practices. The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria should establish rigorous ethical examination, certification and registration of doctors and dentists, and even nurses in order to practice in Nigeria.
“Today’s patients are becoming more aware of their rights and more litigation conscious. A medical professional must be vast not only in the medical field or specialty, but also must be alive to his duties and responsibility to practice. He or she must be conversant with the laws and the ethics of the profession in order to avoid liability suits. Also, a professional must be aware of the need for defensive practice and the need to anticipate legal issues before they occur.
“Practitioners should also be prepared to defend themselves in the court of law or before a professional disciplinary tribunal. In view of liability suits and their increasing burden, practitioners should realise the importance of liability insurance cover.”
According to Father Ugorji, justice in healthcare delivery demands that people are given what they are due, which can be achieved if healthcare providers are grounded in ethics and sound morals.
He pointed out that a good ethical decision demands that every medical procedure carried out must be in the best interest of the patient, stressing that saving the patients’ lives and ensuring they enjoy an improved quality of life after treatment should always be prioritized.
The Jesuit Priest advised that in any treatment, the healthcare team should consider a wide range of treatment options, settling on the ones that are most beneficial to the patient and pose the least risks to them.
He opposed doctors giving patients false hopes when they seek medical care, highlighting that in serious medical cases or major surgeries like fibroid operations, the patient and their families needed to be properly counseled, giving them full details of the immediate and after risks without sugarcoating anything.
Ugorji noted that it is understandable that some childless couples could be desperate to have children and might be willing to do anything, regardless of the implications.
He said that people in that situation should be assisted by involving a qualified psychologist when counseling them on the right decisions to make.
Regarding the signing of a consent form for approval to carry on with a medical procedure, Ugorji noted that it is not enough to sign the document, but health officers should ensure that the person signing the form is in the right mental state and not pressured to do so against their wishes.
Father Ugorji also recommended the adoption of the Bill of Rights in treatment.
Observing that the document is already being used in some climes, Father implored the country to adopt it to ensure that patients’ right to quality healthcare is respected.
“In order to help this process of patients participating in decision making in healthcare led to a patient bill of rights being developed. It is a document that provides patients’ information on how they reasonably expect to be treated during the course of their hospital stay. It provides goals and expectations of patients care. It is a document to guarantee ethical care of patients in terms of their decision making about different choices”, explained Fr. Ugorji.
He highlighted that with the Bill of Rights, patients have the right to seek full disclosure of their medical state and to refuse treatments that are not favourable to them while enjoying the privilege of determining how they want to be treated.
He also advised that healthcare service providers should always respect the cultural and religious concerns of their patients as one of the ways to ensure quality service delivery.
Earlier, the Managing Director of Sunu Health Maintenance Organisation (HMO) Dr. Patrick Korie called for qualitative healthcare delivery at an affordable cost to make life more meaningful to Nigerians amid the hard economic times.
While stressing the importance of adherence to medical ethics, Dr. Korie stated that it would put an end to the compromise of service delivery and make the nation’s health insurance scheme more impactful.
He noted that the Provider Enrollees forum via webinar was a routine meeting adopted by SUNU Health to brainstorm with stakeholders on how best to serve them.
The webinar was joined by healthcare stakeholders including professionals, Enrollees and students from different parts of the country.
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